Apples of Gold

[D. Allan]

But there is one consolation: we are not separated from the ever active presence of God, and we can become aware of it in every moment. Our hearts can become filled with praise and thanks without the use of words; and sometimes we may also find these words of praise and thanks. But this is not the first step, and, often, not even the last. Let us not follow those who use what is called "the present religious revival" to force us back into forms of prayer and thanks that we cannot honestly accept, or that produce joy and thanks through self-suggestion. But let us keep ourselves open to the power that carries our life in every moment, that is here and now, that comes to us through nature and through the message of Jesus as the Christ. May we keep open to it, so that we may be filled with silent gratefulness for the power of being which is in us. And then perhaps words of thanks, words of sacrifice and consecration, may come to our tongues, so that we again may give thanks in truth and honesty.

-Paul Tillich, The Eternal Now, Chapter 16

[D. Allan]

Saint Augustine, On the Lord's Sermon on the Mount 2.3.14 (Latin text available):

"But again one might ask whether we are to pray by words or deeds and what need there is for prayer, if God already nows what is needful for us.

But it is because the act of prayer clarifies and purges our heart

and makes it more capable of receiving the divine gifts that are poured out for us in the spirit.

God does not give heed to the ambitiousness of our prayers,

because he is always ready to give to us his light,

not a visible light but an intellectual and spiritual one:

but we are not always read to receive it when we turn aside and down to other things out of a desire for temporal things.

For in prayer there occurs a turning of the heart

to he who is always ready to give if we will but take what he gives:

and in that turning is the purification of the inner eye when the things we crave in the temporal world are shut out;

so that the vision of the pure heart can bear the pure light that shines divinely without setting or wavering:

and not only bear it,

but abide in it;

not only without difficulty,

but even with unspeakable joy,

with which the blessed life is truly

and genuinely brought to fulfillment."

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/augustine.html

[D. Allan]

A DECLAMATION BY ERASMUS OF ROTTERDAM

"FOLLY SPEAKS: Whatever is generally said of me by mortal men, and I'm quite well aware that Folly is in poor repute even amongst the greatest fools, still, I am the one and indeed, the only one - whose divine powers can gladden the hearts of gods and men. Proof enough of this is the fact that as soon as I stepped forward to address this crowded assembly, every face immediately brightened up with a new, unwonted gaiety and all your frowns were smoothed away. You laughed and applauded with such delightfully happy smiles that as I look at you all gathered round me I could well believe you are tipsy with nectar like the Homeric gods, with a dash of nepenthe too to drive away your cares, though a moment ago you were sitting looking as gloomy and harassed as if you had just come up from Trophonius's cave.1 Now, when the sun first shows his handsome golden visage upon earth, or after a hard winter the new-born spring breathes out its mild west breezes,2 it always happens that a new face comes over everything, new colour and a kind of youthfulness return; and so it only takes the mere sight of me to give you all a different look. For great orators must as a rule spend time preparing long speeches and even then find it difficult to succeed in banishing care and trouble from your minds, but I've done this at once and simply by my looks."

[D. Allan]

'And by sanctifying the whole everyday life, Hasidism takes "the other world into this world". The present time, the world, is the place where faith is made real, where God reveals Himself. God is not the far-away ruler of the world who will bring redemption some time (this is said against the exaggerated messianic hopes), but God wants "to conquer the world he created through the human being".

'God does not want to complete his creation in any other way than with our help. He does not want to reveal his realm before we have founded it. He does not want to put on the crown of the King of the World but by receiving it from our hand.

(The Hasidic Message)'

- from Andreas Schmidt at http://www.buber.de/en/dialogue_trust.shtml

[D. Allan]

Buber is best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a religious existentialism centered on the distinction between direct, mutual relations (called by him the "I-Thou" relationship, or dialogue), in which each person confirms the other as of unique value, and indirect, utilitarian relations (designated the "I-It" relationship, or monologue), in which each person knows and uses others but does not really see or value them for themselves.

Human relationships can only approximate the perfect I-Thou dialogue. When people are in a genuine dialogue with God (the only perfect Thou), the true I-Thou relationship is present. Buber's philosophy of dialogue has had a wide influence on thinkers of many faiths, including such important Protestant theologians as Swiss Karl Barth and Emil Brunner, German-born American Paul Tillich, and American Reinhold Niebuhr.

- http://www.island-of-freedom.com/BUBER.HTM

[D. Allan]

"Otto expresses the relation of our mind to the Ultimate and its mystery in two terms: "tremendum" -- that which produces trembling, fear, and awe; and "fascinosum" -- that which produces fascination, attraction, and desire. Man’s unconditional awe of and unconditional attraction to the holy are what he means in these two terms, and they imply the threat of missing one’s possible fulfillment. The dread of missing one’s fulfillment -- this is the awe. The desire to reach one’s fulfillment -- this is the attraction."

-Paul Tillich, My Search for Absolutes, chapter four

[D. Allan]

The final mysteries of life and reality cannot be answered by science, ethics, politics, or art; for none of them can even begin to address the issue of the meaning or purpose of the whole, or of the sufferings of an individual human life, which inevitably comes to a more or less arbitrary and unsatisfactory end. Nevertheless, most human beings have lived their lives and reached their ends with some sense of ultimate meaning, however irrational or inexplicable, whether through an overtly religious approach, philosophical resignation, or some obviously fraudulent religion substitute (Marxism, etc.).

http://www.friesian.com/otto.htm

[D. Allan]

"Forgetting is probably more difficult for a religious tradition than any other human heritage. But God is not only the beginning from which we came; He is also the end to which we go. He is the creator of the new as well as the ancient of days. To all creatures He has given presence; and presence, although it rests on the past, drives into the future. Therefore, all life has received the gift of forgetting. A church that does not accept this gift denies its own creatureliness, and falls into the temptation of every church, which is to make itself God. Of course, no church or nation or person should ever forget its own identity. We are not asked to forget our name, the symbol of our inner self. And certainly, no church is required to forget is foundation. But if it is unable to leave behind much of what was built on this foundation, it will lose its future."

Paul Tillich, The Eternal Now, chapter two, "Forgetting and being Forgotten"

[D. Allan]

" According to Bonhoeffer, the church has failed in its mission to the modern world because it was not able to separate the message of Christ from religious trappings."

found at : Boston Collaborative Encyclopeadia

[D. Allan]

"Man is the religious animal. He is the only religious animal.

He is the only animal that has the True Religion

–- several of them.

He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself

and cuts his throat, if his theology isn’t straight."

- Mark Twain

[D. Allan]

"Here on earth, God's work must truly be our own."

- John F. Kennedy

[D. Allan]

"I never told my own religion nor scrutinized that of another.

I never attempted to make a convert, nor wished to change another’s creed.

I am satisfied that yours must be an excellent religion to have produced a life of such exemplary virtue and correctness.

For it is in our lives, and not from our words, that our religion must be judged."

- Thomas Jefferson

[monica]

That statement implies that all religions are good, which is not true.

[D. Allan]

I don't think our former president, Mr. Jefferson, meant all religions are equally true. In fact I don't think he addressed that question.

Among Adventist, for example, if we were to judge Adventism by observing the lives of certain adherents we might easily come to opposite conclusions about Adventism, depending upon which Adventists we observed. Hmmm?

[D. Allan]

On second thought, monica is partially right. The key, however, to understanding what Mr. Jefferson meant is in the last sentence: "For it is in our lives, and not from our words, that our religion must be judged." All 'religions' which only generate words and not changed lives are equally useless. Any religion which transforms a life for the better is 'true' in the sense that it produces 'good fruit'.

[D. Allan]

"...we... are fond of saying that here we are all free to choose what to believe. But that is as odd a notion as anything my fundamentalist faith ever asked me to accept. I don’t think any of us is free to believe what we choose to believe. You and I don’t choose what we believe. You and I believe what we are compelled to believe. We believe or do not believe because we are convinced by some combination of personal experience, information and logic.

"No, my friends, you and I are not free to believe anything we choose. You and I believe what we must. The beauty and genius of a faith like ours is that we are not asked to pretend to believe things we do not believe. You and I are not free to choose what we believe, but we are free to stay with our religious community when we grow and when we change our minds."

- from a sermon given by James Covington on January 22nd, 2006

[D. Allan]

Physical heart disease may be the final manifestation of years of abuse that first begins in the psyche and spirit.

Susan Sontag notwithstanding, I am becoming increasingly convinced

that heart disease is a metaphor as well as an anatomical illness.

In poetry, art, and literature, the heart is often portrayed

as the organ most affected by our emotions,

and I think there is some truth in that."

- from Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease

[D. Allan]

When we read the accounts of the great tradition of the Hebrew prophets, figures like Isaiah, Amos, Jeremiah, Micah and Ezekiel, we don’t find religious leaders that are concerned with doctrinal correctness or creeds. We find religious leaders who care about what people do. The prophets take the people of Israel to task not for heresies, but for their lack of faithfulness to their covenant. The prophets admonish the Hebrew people for how they treat each other and for straying from the path of righteousness—a way of being.

-- from a sermon given by James Covington on January 22nd, 2006

[D. Allan]

In the Christian scriptures Jesus shows no interest in doctrinal purity.

His is a ministry of compassion and community, not orthodoxy.

He was more interested in what people do,

how they live with one another

and treat one another.

Jesus said “Love your enemies…

do unto others as you would have them do unto you…

Love your neighbor as yourself. ....

"When we think that religion is about what we believe,

we become distracted and misled.

When we think of religion as what we believe,

we fall into pointless arguments about what is correct and who is right."

- ibid

[D. Allan]

The original meaning of the word religion, from the Greek, meant “that which binds us together” which, to me, implies a way of being together. Yet the search for true religion too often splits us apart. What binds us together, if not belief? Ultimately, when we get to the very core of who we are, what is that glue that holds us, that makes us a people, a faith community, a congregation?

- ibid

[D. Allan]

"... it is the world's most negative emotion.

Jealousy is desperate and degrading;

it's when you ask more questions but believe fewer answers.

You are riding on the rim of Misery.

"Jealousy is not proof of affection. On the contrary, jealous people are usually hard-hearted, for pride is their ruling passsion, not love.

"Jealousy is peering suspiciously

at someone through an imaginary keyhole."

- Bill Ballance, The Bill Ballance Hip Handbook

[D. Allan]

"There is a day

when the road neither

comes nor goes, and the way

is not a way but a place."

- Wendell Berry, A Tembered Choir - the Sabbath Poems 1979-1997, page 216

ISBN 1-887178-68-6

Counterpoint, Wash. D.C.

[D. Allan]

Quote:

What binds us together, if not belief? Ultimately, when we get to the very core of who we are, what is that glue that holds us, that makes us a people, a faith community, a congregation?

Religion, I submit to you, is about meaning and compassion.

What holds us together is what we love and care about so deeply, so tenaciously, so intensely,

that it gives life meaning....

Our religion is what we love so much that it shapes our lives. Our religion is about what we are willing to dream together

and then commit to making a reality.

Do you feel that every life is precious?

Do you feel that every person matters and that therefore you and I should be gentle,

kind,

and compassionate

with one another?

Do you believe children should be cherished and elders should be honored?

If you do, then you and I share the same religion,

and it matters little if you call yourself a theist

and I call myself an agnostic.

Our theological and philosophical opinions are about what we think, but what you and I think is not our religion.

- from a sermon given by James Covington on January 22nd, 2006

[D. Allan]

"Look, no one in here today is fonder of his or her opinions than I am. But if you and I let our opinions, our ideas, drive us apart when we share the same fundamental values, we are fools. In traditional religious language we are guilty of idolatry. If we allow friendships and community to be split by opinions, we are worshipping false gods. Opinions change. The opinions we are adamant about today look quaint and ignorant tomorrow. You and I should hold our opinions lightly and gently, like a fledgling bird we are going to set free. An opinion is a tool that we pick up, use, then put down when its work is done. Opinions do not endure."

- ibid

[D. Allan]

Love can endure, if we work at it. What we love most in life, what is most sacred to us, we must hold on to with every ounce of strength we can muster. What we truly love we must grasp like the lifeline it is. When we lose our grip on what we love we fall into an abyss.

Yes, there is such a thing as being truly religious. But it isn’t about knowing the truth or having the truth or believing the truth.

Being religious is about being true. Being religious is not having faith. It is about being faithful. Being religious is not about being right, but about living right.

- ibid