Lion and Lamb - Brennan Manning - Book Review

3 stars
For me, this book verged between amazing and thought-provoking to 'makes me want to throw it out of the window'. The good outweighed the frustrating, therefore the three stars.

Manning's book, The Ragamuffin Gospel, was life changing for me. But this one...I dunno...I think it needs a second read at some point, maybe I'm just not in the right frame of mind for some of Manning's points about suffering, etc. It just felt too hard, too otherworldly, too selfless, too high a standard. However, the answer most probably lies in the part which did resonate.

What did resonate with me was Manning's encouragement to look past our own failings and past and whatever drags us down and look to Christ. Meditate on his holiness, his beauty, his love, his peace...look away from yourself and look to him. This is where purity of heart comes from. Which reminds me of these two scriptures: Matthew 5:8 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God'; and, 1 John 3:3 'All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure'.

We TRY to be pure and fail because we are concentrating on ourselves; we are being legalists or are self-obsessed (both selfishness and self-hatred are different sides of the same coin). But if we simply place all our hope in HIM we purify ourselves because he is pure.

Manning encourages the reader to empty themselves, he writes: "Simply hoard nothing of yourself; seep the house clean. Sweep our even the attic, even the nagging, painful consciousness of your past. Accept being shipwrecked. Renounce everything that is heavy, even the weight of your sins. See only the compassion, the infinite patience, and the tender love of Christ. Jesus is Lord. That suffices. Your guilt and reproach disappear into the nothingness of non-attention. You are no longer aware of yourself, like the sparrow aloft and free in the azure sky. Even the desire for holiness is transformed into a pure and simple desire for Jesus." (Which reminded me of my favourite Tim Keller book - The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness.)

Overall, a good book and I may increase the stars on a second read.

Look what came in the post today!

Look what came in the post today! PORG!!

We watched Star Wars The Force Awakens and I fell in love with these cute creatures. Mine sits on the bed now :D

In the Name of Jesus - Henri Nouwen - Book Review

5 stars

I underlined so much in this book. It's short but full of SO much to ponder. Nowen intertwines his pondering with biographical details of his own journey from respected academic to ministry in a home for the mentally handicapped. Here he found people who could not be controlled or manipulated into ways of thinking that Nouwen thought were right or important. He found people who lived simply and with their heart; and VERY honestly. It seems that this ministry revealed more the truth of where Nouwen was with God than any amount of training ever could. Here he found the truth of leadership - it can only be done vulnerably in community, not from a position of 'authority' but one of soft openness to what others can teach you and by moving forward together (sometimes it might feel like you're going backwards - but then you end up where God wanted you to be in the first place).

Nouwen points out that those in ministry and leadership are not meant to keep a safe distance from the people of the church. It was never meant to be a kind of worldly client relationship (like the serving professions of medicine, psychiatry, social work, etc.).

Nouwen asks, "[H]ow can anyone lay down his life for those with whom he is not even allowed to enter into a deep personal relationship? Laying down your life means making your own faith and doubt, hope and despair, joy and sadness, courage and fear available to others as ways of getting in touch with the Lord of life.

"We are not the healers, we are not the reconcilers, we are not givers of life. We are sinful, broken, vulnerable people who need as much care as anyone we care for. The mystery of ministry is that we have been chosen to make our own limited and very conditional love the gateway for the unlimited and unconditional love of God. Therefore true ministry must be mutual. When the members of a community of faith cannot truly know and love their shepherd, shepherding quickly becomes a subtle way of exercising power over others..." YES!

I think a lot of the issue of distance between leader and led in the church today is one of fear and lack of trust. Either they feel that they must appear strong and in control of their Christian lives - because they fear that people may mistake any vulnerability for an inability to lead/minister. Or, they have been hurt by people in the church and so put up walls to protect themselves - make themselves resilient to criticism and hurt. Instead of strengthening a leader, this simply makes them hard and more prone to forcing through their own agendas and steamroller others into their way of thinking/doing as they shut their ears and emotions from what others are saying.

Nouwen also touches on something that is very dear to my heart - theological reflection - not that of academic head knowledge (though I do love a good academic tome), but reflecting on the nature of God and, by His help, becoming attuned to and transformed by the mind of Christ. Such reflection will, Nouwen observes, "...allow us to discern critically where we are being led...Without solid theological reflection, future leaders will become little more than pseudo-psychologists, pseudo-sociologists, pseudo-social workers. They will think of themselves as enablers, facilitators, role models, father or mother figures, big brothers or big sisters, and so on, and thus join the countless men and women who make a living by trying to help their fellow human beings cope with the stresses and strains of everyday living."

I've quoted a lot, but just for my own benefit mostly, here's a good one to finish on: "Theological reflection is reflecting on the painful and joyful realities of every day with the mind of Jesus and thereby raising human consciousness to the knowledge of God's gentle guidance. This is a hard discipline...The loud boisterous voices of the world make us deaf to the soft, gentle, and loving voice of God. A Christian leader is called to help people to hear that voice and so be comforted and consoled."

Thoroughly recommend.

NT Wright quote

“Albert Schweitzer, a century or more ago, used another strong image. Jesus, he said, was like a man convinced the wheel of history was going to turn in the opposite direction. He waited for this to happen, but it didn’t. Then he threw himself upon the wheel, and it crushed him—but it did indeed start to turn in the other direction.” ― N.T. Wright, Simply Good News

I love reading

Ahhhh, the bliss of time to read and read and read. We've been so busy the past year that I just haven't had time to do all the reading and pondering and wondering that I LOVE to do. New Year's resolution...make time!! The downfall to all this, is that the house is so untidy that I think it would just be easier to hand the keys over to the mortgage company and go rent somewhere clean and tidy.

Boots, on the other hand, thinks that I should read less and pay her more attention!

You know it's Christmas when you super-glue a wreath to your finger!

My poor dad

The arrow won't wash off! Haha

Well my dad finished his radiotherapy on Friday! Whoop! But on Saturday morning he cut his finger badly, spent all morning at Urgent Care and was been referred to a Plastic Surgeon Monday morning, for possible nerve damage!

My poor dad! The hospital confirmed that he had severed the nerve, it was an exhausting day as they were so busy and Dad had to wait and wait.

Apparently the nurses applauded when dad finally went off to theatre lol they felt so sorry for him. Dad said they were so lovely and kind to him, plying him with tea and biscuits all day.

Praying that it heals up quick.  He will have to have physio to prevent it stiffening up as the nerves regenerate themselves gradually.