Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion. Brennan Manning, Abba’s Child Simple, really. Though I make it so hard. Yes, if you were to listen to the chunter of my heart, you would think he was impressed by everything that I’m not yet, perhaps even never will … Continue reading
If you ask yourself, “Why am I walking around this planet? Why do I exist?” Paul says, “You must answer: For the sake of Christ.” If the angels were to ask, they must point to the Nazarene carpenter and make the same answer, “We exist for the sake of Christ.” If the whole cosmos were … Continue reading
Oops, I may have just started another book. Or three. What can I say – I lack discipline in some areas! (Phil, I promise I am also reading the book I’m reviewing for you! In fact, there are some more blog posts to flow out of that soon, as well as the review that is … Continue reading
Listen to Brennan Manning in The Furious Longing of God… How is it then that we’ve come to imagine that Christianity consists primarily in what we do for God? How has this come to be the good news of Jesus? Is the kingdom that He proclaimed to be nothing more than a community of men and women … Continue reading
Journalling is one of those habits which most supports my faith development. I do so love to reread the records of God’s faithfulness to me. It’s like having your own book of psalms of remembrance! As I go back over my entries, I relive the pain, I remember the desperate prayers and I enter again … Continue reading
I have loved the simplicity of these words from Brennan Manning in Abba’s Child this week: I believe that the night in the Upper Room was the defining moment of John’s life. Some sixty years after Christ’s resurrection, the apostle – like an old gold miner panning the stream of his memories – recalled all … Continue reading
Leadership in the church is not entrusted to successful fund-raisers, brilliant biblical scholars, administrative geniuses, or spellbinding preachers (though these assets may be helpful), but to those who have been laid waste by a consuming passion for Christ – passionate men and women for whom privilege and power are trivial compared to knowing and loving … Continue reading
Manning talks about the concept of the ‘present risenness’ of Jesus in his book, ‘Abba’s Child’. He suggests that ‘our hope is inextricably connected with the conscious awareness of present risenness’ and that the resurrection needs to be experienced as present risenness. If we take seriously the word of the risen Christ [in Matt.28:20]…we should … Continue reading
It takes time for the water to settle. Coming to interior stillness requires waiting. Any attempt to hasten the process only stirs up the water anew. So writes Brennan Manning in ‘Abba’s Child’. I find this image of water in a jar so helpful as a picture of the soul. Once the water has been … Continue reading
Silent solitude makes true speech possible and personal. If I am not in touch with my own belovedness, then I cannot touch the sacredness of others…Conscientiously ‘wasting’ time with God enables me to speak and act from greater strength, to forgive rather than nurse the latest bruise to my wounded ego, to be capable of … Continue reading
The Art of Steering 