Tag Archives: Faith

8. Heart and soul

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THE WAY OF PEACE

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“Purity of heart is to will one thing.”
— Soren Kierkegaard

This post has been on tap for years; I’ve come to feel the time to write it is now.  On the one hand, however, I hardly feel I know what I’m talking about.  I can see the goal, I can point to it, I can admire it, but I hardly have any idea how to get there.  On the other hand, there are multiple directions from which to approach the subject, which fact doesn’t lend itself to the linear-sequential proneness of written words.

So, this may not be the best presentation.

In question is a dynamic that has profound pertinence to the effectiveness of one’s desires, the effectiveness of one’s prayers, the effectiveness of one’s life. Continue reading 8. Heart and soul →

I don’t believe in belief. Here’s why.

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Arnie (not his real name) has been the sole student of my course on effective prayer.

Sunday after church he told me he’d found a couple online resources about effective prayer, that he hoped we could review together.  Each of them begins with the necessity of “belief.”

When he said this, I became nervous.  There are many such sources online, but I’m not comfortable with them.  On the one hand, trying to make myself “believe” that the outcome I pray for is inevitable, feels too much like wading into the world of delusion.  On the other hand, although there are many New Testament references to “belief” in connection with prayer, I’m convinced that either (a) those expressions don’t come from the historical Jesus himself, or else (b) Jesus used that term to mean something very different from what we normally take it to mean today.

None of those whom I regard as experts in the field ever refer to belief this way.  Never.  Not once.  Ever.

By Monday afternoon, I would feel my reservations had been powerfully confirmed.

Related:  From my diary: Learning to pray
Related:  I will not be disappointed
Related:  When prayer backfires
Continue reading I don’t believe in belief. Here’s why. →

Whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on.

Get on your feet, Homelessness, OUR BEST POSTS, Poverty, The Way of Peace,

Major life changes may be imminent, including a reversal of the processes whereby I became homeless.

The correct writing for me at this time is the next several chapters of The Way of Peace. These will appear on Saturdays, but not necessarily in quick succession and not necessarily very soon. They will be brief, but are a challenge to me to write; as history shows, since they will basically be the same today as when I first conceived them in 2010.

The Way of Peace appears to be the talk I must walk.

A snapshot: this moment in my life right now

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Thursday 2017-02-23

Some weeks ago, on a Sunday afternoon just after check-in at the mission, I became clairvoyant for a few seconds, and saw many things.

The first insight was that many things I’ve been saying for a long, long time — teachings, theories, hypotheses — are far more factual than I’d ever supposed.

The last thing that came displeased me.  It said, “God has a purpose for my being [at the shelter], and I’ll never get away until it’s accomplished.”

What progress I have made since then has come from acting on the “things I’ve been saying for a long, long time.”  The Way of Peace was composed in 2010; I don’t know whether I’ve yet posted here all that was composed at time; I’m know there’s still a lot that  I have yet to post; but it’s the basic teachings in there, including those already set forth, that I’ve been called to act on.

Yesterday afternoon on the walk back to the shelter, I was using — for the first time in months — techniques perhaps first set forth in “Paying my dues …,” first published in 2013.

The teaching set forth in “Simple,” I have been working to live out.  I found the quotation in an e-mail I sent various people in 2007, telling them it epitomized what I believed Jesus actually taught.

Walking my talk, or learning to:  that may be what’s keeping me at the shelter.  Once I’m walking my talk enough, I may be free.

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About the widow and the judge

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Many people are skeptical about prayer.

How many have prayed fervently, day and night, for an ailing loved one, and never obtained the desired outcome?

The parable of the widow and the judge promises, “[W]ill not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them.”  For African Americans, that deserves to be laughable.

No one has ever lived, nor is ever likely to live, more expert in prayer than Jesus.  I cannot believe he set forth a teaching either so completely wrong in itself or so subject to complete misunderstanding.

So what is wrong, and what is right?

Continue reading About the widow and the judge →

Risk and faith

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12:30 Wednesday 2016-10-05

A learning opportunity that may seem trivial.

I’ve been pondering a lot lately why people, myself included, balk at owning their personal power.  It has seemed to me that a major factor is fear of disappointment:  owning personal power means a duty to take initiatives, to act on arbitrary decisions, and face the risk that what one hoped for may not obtain.

Yesterday morning when I turned my phone on, there were three voice mails, one from my invalid oldest brother and two from prospective employers wanting to set interviews.  Given the way things are for me on Tuesdays, I was unable to return any of the calls.  I wanted to do so today.

Continue reading Risk and faith →