"To take seriously the Discipline of solitude will mean that at some point or points along the pilgrimage we will enter what St John of the Cross vividly describes as 'the dark night of the soul'. The 'dark night' to which he calls us is not something bad or destructive. On the contrary, it is an experience to be welcomed much as a sick person might welcome a surgery that promises health and well-being. The purpose of the darkness is not to punish or to afflict us. It is to set us free. It is a divine appointment, a privileged opportunity to draw close to the divine Centre...
What does the dark night of the soul involve? We may have a sense of dryness, aloneness, even lostness. Any overdependence on the emotional life is stripped away. The notion, often heard today, that such experiences should be avoided and that we always should live in peace and comfort, joy and celebration only betrays the fact that much contemporary experience is surface slush. The dark night is one of the ways God brings us into a hush, a stillness so that he may work an inner transformation upon the soul. ..
How is this dark night expressed in daily life? When solitude is seriously pursued, there is usually a flush of initial success and then an inevitable letdown- and with it a desire to abandon the pursuit altogether. Feelings leave and there is the sense that we are not getting through to God. St John of the Cross describes it this way '... the darkness of the soul mentioned here...puts the sensory and spiritual appetites to sleep...It binds the imagination and impedes it from doing any good discursive work, It makes the memory cease, the intellect becomes dark and unable to understand anything, and hence it causes the will also to become arid and constrained, and all the faculties empty and useless. And over all this hangs a dense and burdensome cloud which afflicts the soul and keeps it withdrawn from God.'....
' Oh, then, spiritual soul, when you see your appetites darkened, your inclinations dry and constrained, your faculties incapacitated for any interior exercise, do not be afflicted; think of this as a grace since God is freeing you from yourself and taking from you your own activity.' (St John of the Cross )
From Celebration of Disciplines
Richard Foster
Strangely for no reason, was emotionally feeling so down for the whole of this week. It was as if a dark cloud loomed over me, and I saw no light out of these feelings of sadness. It is as if...the victory and revelations of yesterday suddenly came to naught and I was back to square one of aloneness.
The longer I am a christian, the more I don't think I know God at all. Who are you God? I stop myself to ask this question everyday. When I was younger, I thought I could be somebody- that cell leader, that spiritual mentor, the bible study teacher. Now I am simply nothing, can't claim to be anybody, except someone saved graciously by the love of God.
Dear God, Thank You for never letting me go amidst all the circumstances. Thank You for yr gracious love toward me.
So complete in You, I am...
Complete - Parachute Band
Here I am, Oh God
I bring this sacrifice
My open heart, I offer up my life
I look to You, Lord
Your love that never ends
Restores me again
So I lift my eyes to you Lord
In your strength will I break through Lord
Touch me now, let your love fall down on me
I know your love dispels all my fears
Through the storm I will hold on Lord
And by faith I will walk on Lord
Then I'll see beyond my calvary one day
And I will be complete in You
I look to You, Lord
Your love that never ends
Restores me again
Friday, April 27, 2007
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Hiding behind the Cross
I finally finished the book Good News to the Poor by Tim Chester, and I must say, I rank it as one of the best books I've read. :) It provides a very balanced view of reaching the poor through the gospel and through social involvement.
In the second last chapt, I learnt of this word called "Christendom"- which is the term used to refer to those countries and regions that consider themselves Christian. It involves the church "using or influencing political power to protect its interests and further its mission".
I never quite managed to capture why I felt this sense of discomfort whenever there was mentioning of how Christians will go into the marketplace and be in positions of authority and power and convert the whole culture. In some ways I believe in that, and yet in other ways, I think this book captures it well. He says, "Christian ministry is not conducted through political power or media influence. It is conducted in the upside down, unpredictable power of the cross. It is conducted through weakness and dishonour."
"The church became aligned with the establishment so that those who were marginalized within society were therefore marginalised from the church... The involvement of Christians in cultural and civic life ought to be motivated by love of neighbour, not by self-interest- not even by the corporate self interest of the evangelical movement."
"The church as the church should not seek power or influence in a secular sense. Instead it should seek opportunities to serve the world. As the church follows the way of the cross, it must choose 'participation in the powerlessness of God in the world'. It stands with the weak and the powerless. It speaks on behalf of those whose voice is not heard. It seeks justice for the poor."
He closes with this poem which I find quite meaningful, and touched my heart.
Jesus, Jewel of the Poor
Steward Henderson
From the crystal courts of heaven
to the fly-blown stable floor,
this is a different kind of glory-
Jesus, jewel of the poor.
Visionary of unknown planets
strolls unnoticed by the shore,
this is a sparse and modest glory-
Jesus, jewel of the poor.
Made the dust walk by his breathing,
weeping image of the Law,
this is a strangely chosen glory-
Jesus, jewel of the poor.
Zeal of heaven hangs exhausted,
bore the gouge of Satan's claw,
this is a beaten, hopeless glory-
Jesus, jewel of the poor.
Homeless Saviour of the nomad
lifts the starving through his door,
this the just and finished glory-
Jesus, jewel of the poor.
-------------
How precious the cross. How precious the Father's love for us.
The power of the cross...."power in weakness, victory in failure and glory in shame".
In the second last chapt, I learnt of this word called "Christendom"- which is the term used to refer to those countries and regions that consider themselves Christian. It involves the church "using or influencing political power to protect its interests and further its mission".
I never quite managed to capture why I felt this sense of discomfort whenever there was mentioning of how Christians will go into the marketplace and be in positions of authority and power and convert the whole culture. In some ways I believe in that, and yet in other ways, I think this book captures it well. He says, "Christian ministry is not conducted through political power or media influence. It is conducted in the upside down, unpredictable power of the cross. It is conducted through weakness and dishonour."
"The church became aligned with the establishment so that those who were marginalized within society were therefore marginalised from the church... The involvement of Christians in cultural and civic life ought to be motivated by love of neighbour, not by self-interest- not even by the corporate self interest of the evangelical movement."
"The church as the church should not seek power or influence in a secular sense. Instead it should seek opportunities to serve the world. As the church follows the way of the cross, it must choose 'participation in the powerlessness of God in the world'. It stands with the weak and the powerless. It speaks on behalf of those whose voice is not heard. It seeks justice for the poor."
He closes with this poem which I find quite meaningful, and touched my heart.
Jesus, Jewel of the Poor
Steward Henderson
From the crystal courts of heaven
to the fly-blown stable floor,
this is a different kind of glory-
Jesus, jewel of the poor.
Visionary of unknown planets
strolls unnoticed by the shore,
this is a sparse and modest glory-
Jesus, jewel of the poor.
Made the dust walk by his breathing,
weeping image of the Law,
this is a strangely chosen glory-
Jesus, jewel of the poor.
Zeal of heaven hangs exhausted,
bore the gouge of Satan's claw,
this is a beaten, hopeless glory-
Jesus, jewel of the poor.
Homeless Saviour of the nomad
lifts the starving through his door,
this the just and finished glory-
Jesus, jewel of the poor.
-------------
How precious the cross. How precious the Father's love for us.
The power of the cross...."power in weakness, victory in failure and glory in shame".
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