Postmodern Renaissance Culture Revolutionary

My devotions this morning involved reading from Catherine of Genoa's Life and Teachings (in Devotional Classics). The subject was waiting on God to bring us to where God wants us to be in the plan God has. Within, I encountered this quote: If we could see what we will receive in the life to come (as a reward for what we have done here), we would cease to occupy ourselves with anything but the things of heaven. But God, who desires that we see by faith and who desires that we not do good because of selfish motives, gives us this vision little by little, sufficient to the level of faith which we are capable. In this manner, God leads us into a greater vision of that which is to come until faith is no longer needed. I read that and wondered. God offers us the "reward" of eternal life in the kingdom that never ends. But the vision of that reward is so small. There are only hints and glimpses of it in the New Testament. There are no strong affirmations of what that experien...

A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to participate in a meditation on the opening verses of the Gospel According to John. The lectio divina is a Christian meditative practice that is quite ancient. The process of meditation involves a focus on a portion of Scripture. The invitation to focus on the 4th Gospel was timely: I was beginning a sermon series on that book that next Sunday. The preparation for the series had already taken me over the opening verses. And the verses are so familiar, "In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God," "the Word took flesh and tabernacled among us...". As I confessed in the opening sermon of that series, I am sometimes guilty of skimming over the familiar. But the invitation to meditate on those so familiar words, to slow down and truly let them soak into my mind, heart, and spirit, brought me to a moment where a clear thought floated to the surface. John 1:3 - All things came into being through him...

Yesterday morning I was out on the back porch, drinking my coffee and enjoying E. Stanley Jones. For those who are not familiar, E. Stanley Jones was a Methodist preacher and evangelist in the middle part of the 20 th Century. He was also what may be considered a prolific devotional writer. I am currently collecting and reading through his writings. Most of ESJ's writings were devotional books that were structured to be read completely through (and could be done in one sitting…if you were only reading in a shallow manner), read thematically (he broke the writings into themed sections and not chapters), or daily (each page gives a daily reference). As a frame of reference, think about the Upper Room devotional or Our Daily Bread. Only chewier. What I mean by chewier is that ESJ wrote some real serious thinking and introspective material. He was writing for life change, not just simple devotion. He wasn't trying to give people a brief "time with God" kind of moment. He...