URBANarmy

"Life, when lived fully, tends to tool and retool us until we eventually discover a mercy that fills all the gaps necessary for our very survival and sanity. Without grace, everything human declines and devolves into smallness, hurt, and blame."

It has been sometime since I have thought about 'lost themes of mission' but today's daily dose of Nouwen got me thinking about what constitutes developing 'true community'.  "There are many forms of poverty:  economic poverty, physical poverty, emotional poverty, mental poverty, and spiritual poverty.  As long as we relate primarily to each other's wealth, health, stability, intelligence, and soul strength, we cannot develop true community.  Community is not a talent show in which we dazzle the world with our combined gifts.  Community is the place where our poverty is acknowledged and accepted, not as something we have to learn to cope with as best as we can but as a true source of new life. Living community in whatever form - family, parish, twelve-step program, or intentional community - challenges us to come together at the place of our poverty,  believing that there we can reveal our richness." Nouwen's words made me think how easy it is for ...

"Personal awareness of self before a loving God is also important because it helps self confidence to grow and be more resistant to the assaults of failure or rebuff. Thus, it allows our character to develop and it enables the presence of God with in us to be felt in a good way by others. It is not that we forget or deny our faults; rather, we are better able to put them into perspective instead of being crushed by them."25 Wicks's then outlines a helpful checklist that he calls , ' p rinciples of self-respect and clarity':  1. When I have made a mistake or feel anxious, I need to separate what I have done from who I am.  2. When I feel badly about myself as a person, I must see if I am embracing an irrational belief about myself. I need to take a distressful  feeling as an opportunity to uncover style of thinking and believing that undermines my self-respect or desire to understand and correct my behaviour. ... 76  Contd...

Some amazing conversations sat drinking coffee this weekend @suttonsachurch, one of which that rumbled on for two days! with a break in between mind! One in particular centred on some of the negative impressions of Christianity, not least the appearance of judgementalism that seems to be the experience of many. This particular woman made pertinent point after pertinent point as to her observations, really all could offer was an apology!  Nouwen's daily email had a lesson for us all today ... "Only when we fully claim that God loves us in an unconditional way and look at "those other persons" as equally loved can we begin to discover that the great variety in being human is an expression of the immense richness of God's heart.  Then the need to prejudge people can gradually disappear."

Every now and then I read one of those books that I worry I might forget bits that made an impression upon me. These books represent more than mere opinion, clever talk they represents something that speaks deep within. Robert Wick's 'Touching the holy : ordinariness, self-esteem, and friendship' is one such book. I want to capture some of its comfort and challenge so will park some quotes and thoughts here over the next couple of weeks... Here are two quotes to set the scene. Due to our lack of complete trust in God's revelation that we are made in the divine image and likeness, most of us get caught up in trying to be extra ordinary. We become insecure and are tempted to rest our sense of self on something less than God's love for us. As a result we waste our energy worrying about whether we are liked, respected, effective, or as good as other people. 15 If only we would properly attend to God's gifts to us and in us! Then self awareness and healthy se...