Truth--"Tell It Slant"

Here’s a great poem by Emily Dickinson about truth. 

Tell it Slant 

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant —
Success in Circuit lies;
Too bright for mind's infirm intent,
The Truth's superb surprise.

As Lightning to the Children eased,
With explanation kind;
The Truth must dazzle gradually,
Or every man be blind. 

To tell the truth “slant” is, I believe, the most effective way to do it. If you just go up to somebody and say “Hey—God loves you!” that person is apt to go suddenly wide-eyed, turn on his/her heel, and get away from you quickly.

In fact, I remember a similar situation when I was a freshman at the University of Texas in Austin many years ago. Simply being there was a culture shock, since the freshman class was comprised of about a thousand people more than my entire home town. Contributing to the spinning of my head was the fact that professors were slinging truth and half-truth and not-truth at me as fast as they could talk. I was dizzy trying to figure out which was which.

One beautiful day in October or November, a student stopped me on the sidewalk as I was on my way to class, deep in agonized thought. He said, “Have you had the wonderful experience of asking Jesus Christ into your life?”

I was completely bamboozled, not to mention shocked, and said, “Yes.” I walked on. People didn’t do that kind of thing so directly where I came from, and I could hardly believe anybody would do it. My home town was a lovely, nurturing place to grow up, full of loving people. But most of them were shy about directly discussing God, for some reason. It was the time, I suppose. People don’t seem to be that way so much now, and I’m glad.

So what is the best way to present the truth about God’s love to people? How do we “tell it slant” in a way that makes people listen? It's a delicate and difficult question. I’m going to think about it and write more about it soon.

*I borrowed the picture from this site.

Truth--"Tell It Slant"

https://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2011/09/truth-tell-it-slant.html

Maya Angelou: "Just Like Job"

Here’s a marvelous poem by Maya Angelou.  She is a powerful poet who believes in a powerful God. Way back when Job lived    his people knew God was in charge of the world, and they were glad. He still is. And I'm glad.

Just Like Job

by Maya Angelou

My Lord, my Lord,
Long have I cried out to Thee
In the heat of the sun,
The cool of the moon,
My screams searched the heavens for Thee.
My God,
When my blanket was nothing but dew,
Rags and bones
Were all I owned,
I chanted Your name
Just like Job.

Father, Father,
My life give I gladly to Thee
Deep rivers ahead
High mountains above
My soul wants only Your love
But fears gather round like wolves in the dark.
Have You forgotten my name?
O Lord, come to Your child.
O Lord, forget me not.

You said to lean on Your arm
And I’m leaning
You said to trust in Your love
And I’m trusting
You said to call on Your name
And I’m calling
I’m stepping out on Your word.

You said You’d be my protection,
My only and glorious saviour,
My beautiful Rose of Sharon,
And I’m stepping out on Your word.
Joy, joy
Your word.
Joy, joy
The wonderful word of the Son of God.

You said that You would take me to glory
To sit down at the welcome table
Rejoice with my mother in heaven
And I’m stepping out on Your word.

Into the alleys
Into the byways
Into the streets
And the roads
And the highways
Past rumor mongers
And midnight ramblers
Past the liars and the cheaters and the gamblers.
On Your word
On Your word.
On the wonderful word of the Son of God.
I’m stepping out on Your word.

*Poem borrowed from http://closetsuperhero.wordpress.com/2009/10/01/just-like-job-by-maya-angelou/ 

Photo borrowed from http://www.empirezine.com/spotlight/maya/maya1.htm

Maya Angelou: "Just Like Job"

https://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2011/05/maya-angelou-just-like-job.html

Worship

It’s been a long time since we did a word study here on “Connections.”  I believe one is now in order.  Here is the word for the day: worship.

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote this: “A person will worship something, have no doubt about it. That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives and our character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we worship we are becoming.”

According to Dictionary.com (the Thesaurus part), worship (as a verb) means to honor or glorify. Some synonyms are  admire, adore, bow down to, celebrate, chant, deify, dote on, esteem, exalt, extol, idolize, laud, love, magnify, offer prayers to, pay homage to, praise, pray to, put on a pedestal, respect, revere, reverence, sanctify, sing, sing praises to, venerate.  In other words, it means not only a brief act of celebration, but also a constant state of adulation.

Emerson also wrote this: “A man is what he thinks about all day long.” When Emerson wrote this, he didn’t just mean men, of course.  What we spend the biggest part of our time and money on is our most important priority.  That is what we think about most.

God wants our every thought. He wants to be closer to us than our breath, part of our blood and bones and mind.  He wants us to dote on him, to respect, esteem, and revere him, to seek his guidance in everything. He wants us to desire for our lives to glorify him.  That is worship.

*I borrowed the picture from this site: http://godwordistruth.wordpress.com/2009/07/01/what-kind-of-worship-god-desires-from-his-people/ 

Worship

https://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2011/04/worship.html

Science and Religion--Some Thoughts

Take a look at the amazing and beautiful pictures of distant outer-space scenes at the National Geographic site linked here.

In her book Walking on Water, Madeleine L’Engle says there is no conflict between science and religion. “All that the new discoveries of science can do is to enlarge our knowledge of the magnitude and glory of God’s creation. We may, and often do, abuse our discoveries, use them for selfish and greedy purposes, but it is the abuse which causes the conflict, not the discoveries themselves” (230).

Look at all the brouhaha over Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. I am not going to say it is not true. It is a theory, and if it is true, that’s because it is the way God chose to do things. Darwin himself did not say his theory came into conflict with religious belief. Although he eventually declared himself to be an agnostic, he said these things:      

1.  "The mystery of the beginning of all things is insoluble by us...." 

2. “It seems to me absurd to doubt that a man may be an ardent Theist & an evolutionist.” (Letter to John Fordyce, May 7 1879)
3. “I hardly see how religion & science can be kept as distinct as [Edward Pusey] desires… But I most wholly agree… that there is no reason why the disciples of either school should attack each other with bitterness.” (Letter to J. Brodie Innes, November 27 1878)
4. “In my most extreme fluctuations I have never been an atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God.” (Letter to John Fordyce, May 7 1879)
You can find these quotations at this site.

We can’t know everything about God. There’s much we do not know, in fact, even though we like to think we know just about everything important there is to know.  I am content to trust God and to know that he (not people) controls the universe.

Science and Religion--Some Thoughts

https://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2010/03/science-and-religion-some-thoughts.html

Before all things

One of my favorite Bible verses is this:

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

This verse is found in the first chapter of Colossians, verse 17. In this chapter, Paul prefaces his letter to the Christians of Colossae, a city in ancient Greece. The Christian Colossians are said to have been in error in their beliefs. Paul feared they were heading toward ways of worshipping that would reduce Christianity to a legal system and obscure Jesus.

The verse is part of a statement of beliefs--a testimonial prayer for the believer’s life. It proclaims the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the supreme power and love of God, who redeemed us from darkness and emptiness through Jesus. It means God created the world and everything in it, and that he is in control of it all.

That gives me hope and a sense of security, even when it may appear that our lives are falling apart. Because God is love, I know I can depend on him. That doesn't mean he will keep me from being hurt or sick or from making dumb decisions. But it does mean that when these things happen, I will still be able to find a center of peace, a cool oasis in the desert. All will not be lost--even if all is lost.

The little drawing comes from this site: http://www.saintjohnsbible.org/

Before all things

https://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2010/01/before-all-things.html

Across to Life

Today’s entry (August 14) on my Mary Engelbreit calendar is a picture full of meaning. I tried to find it on the Internet so I could share it here, but alas, I could not. So I will have to tell you about it.

A little girl is standing on the edge of a sheer cliff that drops off down below into a lush green valley with hills, a river, and mountains. The side where she stands is completely barren, solid gray.

Her side is connected to a similar cliff not far away. The other side is grassy and covered with roses and three or four other kinds of flowers, some hanging over the edge; children, fairies, and elves wearing funny pointed hats; butterflies and dancing rabbits; ferns, mushrooms, a white picket fence, and tree full of fruit and other goodies.

The girl stands at the entrance to the rickety old rope-and-board bridge that she would have to cross to get to the other side--the full-of-life side. Her hands cover her mouth, and her eyes are wide with fear. Her shoulders are hunched.

At the top of the picture are these words by Grace Hansen: “Don’t be afraid your life will end; be afraid it will never begin.”

I don’t know how Mary Engelbreit would explain this girl’s predicament, but I am assuming that, like literature, her artwork is open to interpretation, and I may, therefore, do what I want to with it. This is what I think:

The girl stands on the barren, gray, empty side, which represents a life without the love of God. She is afraid to leave this way of life because it is all she knows. But she can look across and see the possibilities over there in a life filled with his love. Maybe she doesn’t realize that the joy and peace there can be hers, even in life’s difficulties. She would have problems there, too, of course, but through them all, she would have a rich and fulfilled sense in her spirit instead of that fear and emptiness she has now.

How can she get across the broken, sagging bridge? All she has to do is take the first step, be willing to leave behind her old ways, and go across in belief . As soon as she asks God to make the bridge to support her as she goes, he will touch it and make it new and strong. And there will be great rejoicing when she reaches the other side.

This image is from http://www.amazon.com/Mary-Engelbreits-Edge-2009-Calendar/dp/0740772813

Across to Life

https://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2009/08/across-to-life.html

John the Baptist

I’ve heard people say when they read the Bible, they often see something new in a passage they have already read a number of times. That happens to me, too. And sometimes it happens in a group—in this case, in the Disciple Bible Study I go to every week. We are studying John the Baptist, who was sent by God as a witness to the coming of Christ.

Last week, we read this passage, found in Luke 7:18-23:

John's followers told John everything that was being said about Jesus. So he sent two of them to ask the Lord, "Are you the one we should be looking for? Or must we wait for someone else?"

When these messengers came to Jesus, they said, "John the Baptist sent us to ask, `Are you the one we should be looking for? Or are we supposed to wait for someone else?' "

At that time Jesus was healing many people who were sick or in pain or were troubled by evil spirits, and he was giving sight to a lot of blind people. Jesus said to the messengers sent by John, "Go and tell John what you have seen and heard. Blind people are now able to see, and the lame can walk. People who have leprosy are being healed, and the deaf can now hear. The dead are raised to life, and the poor are hearing the good news. God will bless everyone who doesn't reject me because of what I do."

Notes in my NIV Life Application Study Bible say John was confused because he had been getting reports about the activities of Jesus that were “unexpected and incomplete.” I had always interpreted it this way. John was worried or was somehow having doubts.

But last Thursday night, our group discussion led to a new understanding. John sent some of his followers to ask questions of Jesus—to find out if he was the long-expected one. Why did he send two of his people? If he was truly worried, why wouldn’t he have gone himself to talk to Jesus?

John, we believe, never had doubts; he had known all his life. He knew that if he sent his followers into the presence of Jesus, they, too, would have this personal knowledge. And they would follow the path John had shown them, to dedicate themselves to Jesus—not to John.

John was the messenger, sent to show the way. And that’s what he was doing.

John the Baptist

https://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2008/10/john-baptist.html

What to Do about Anger?

Today I’m borrowing from Max Lucado’s UpWords Weekly E-Mail Devotional .

Max is very concerned—as we all should be—about the anger we see so much of today. He says anger becomes a tremendously explosive force, even built up little by little; rage is quite destructive. What can we do about it? Here’s his answer:

We can’t deny that our anger exists. How do we harness it? A good option is found in Luke 23:34. Here, Jesus speaks about the mob that killed him. “‘Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’”

Look carefully. It’s as if Jesus considered this bloodthirsty, death-hungry crowd not as murderers, but as victims. It’s as if he saw in their faces not hatred but confusion. It’s as if he regarded them not as a militant mob but, as he put it, as “sheep without a shepherd.”
“They don’t know what they are doing.”

And when you think about it, they didn’t. They hadn’t the faintest idea what they were doing. They were a stir-crazy mob, mad at something they couldn’t see so they took it out on, of all people, God. But they didn’t know what they were doing.

And for the most part, neither do we. We are still, as much as we hate to admit it, shepherdless sheep. All we know is that we were born out of one eternity and are frighteningly close to another. We play tag with the fuzzy realities of death and pain. We can’t answer our own questions about love and hurt. We can’t solve the riddle of aging. We don’t know how to heal our own bodies or get along with our own mates. We can’t keep ourselves out of war. We can’t even keep ourselves fed.

Paul spoke for humanity when he confessed, “I do not know what I am doing.” (Romans 7:15, author’s paraphrase.)

Now, I know that doesn’t justify anything. That doesn’t justify hit-and-run drivers or kiddie-porn peddlers or heroin dealers. But it does help explain why they do the miserable things they do.

My point is this: Uncontrolled anger won’t better our world, but sympathetic understanding will. Once we see the world and ourselves for what we are, we can help. Once we understand ourselves we begin to operate not from a posture of anger but of compassion and concern. We look at the world not with bitter frowns but with extended hands. We realize that the lights are out and a lot of people are stumbling in the darkness. So we light candles.

What to Do about Anger?

https://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2008/05/what-to-do-about-anger.html

Doing, Doing, Doing

In today’s entry in My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers wrote that God sows us by a whirlwind, flinging us out like a handful of seed pods. We must live by God's vision, Chambers says, and not lose it.

If we lose the vision, we alone are responsible, and the way we lose the vision is by spiritual leakage. If we do not run our belief about God into practical issues, it is all up with the vision God has given. The only way to be obedient to the heavenly vision is to give our utmost for God's highest, and this can only be done by continually and resolutely recalling the vision. The test is the sixty seconds of every minute, and the sixty minutes of every hour, not our times of prayer and devotional meetings.

Chambers says over and over in different ways that the vital thing is the relationship, the vision—being in love with Jesus. He bases that on the Bible; God is always more concerned about the condition of our hearts than what we do in his name.

Eight or so years ago, I was locked in a dentist’s chair having a crown done. I could see a little patch of sky, so I looked at it and prayed, and so kept my mind off my tooth and all that drilling. I was kind of at a place where I had been doing lots of things—Emmaus, mission trip, Sunday school teaching—and I didn’t know what to do next. I prayed, “Lord, what do you want me to do next? What, what, what should I do?”

And he answered, “Stop worrying so much about doing, and just be.” I interpreted that to mean he wanted me to just love him and be fully in the relationship with him.

As Chambers points out, we must let God fling us out and keep an eye on his cyclones. “If you select your own spot,” he says, “you will prove to be an empty pod. If God sows you, you will bring forth fruit.”

Doing, Doing, Doing

https://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2008/03/doing-doing-doing.html

Suicide Attempt

A woman I know tried to commit suicide this week. She is very sick now, with a terminal illness. A suicide attempt is a desperate cry for help, and hers is no different.

Life without God in Jesus Christ is empty of joy, full of despair, fear, and darkness. Life in God through Jesus Christ is strength to deal with terrible illness, hope even in the darkest times, joy beyond pleasure and happiness, and peace immeasurable by human understanding.

In John 14:27, Jesus says: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

My prayer is that this woman and her distraught family will open their hearts to his love. He is real and powerful.

Suicide Attempt

https://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2008/03/suicide-attempt.html

Angst

A few days ago, I told my community college creative writing class, “You need to be sure to give your main character some situation to deal with, some angst, some disturbance of normal life.”

They looked at me and blinked a few times without reacting much. I said, “Do you know what ‘angst’ means?”

Most of them just kept looking at me and blinking. A few shook their heads. I wasn’t sure I knew, either, now that we got to that point. We looked it up. One student said it is a German word, meaning fear. People rather like the word angst; it has an appealing intellectual sound.

The handy-dandy Merriam-Webster says it is a “fearful concern or interest, painful or apprehensive uneasiness of mind usually over an impending or anticipated ill.”

Another definition is a “cause of anxiety.” Anxiety is a cause of anxiety? It is spiral in nature, then, feeding upon itself.

It gets worse: “an abnormal and overwhelming sense of apprehension and fear often marked by physiological signs (as sweating, tension, and increased pulse), by doubt concerning the reality and nature of the threat, and by self-doubt about one's capacity to cope with it.”

We decided anxiety and fear are related, that fear is sometimes paralyzing. It can pull you down into some dark place where you feel very much alone with your disturbing thoughts. It can be debilitating. Much of literature (we think of our English 2307 stories as literature) shows characters learning how to cope with angst—or not.

I can’t say this in my class, because it is a public educational institution and it’s not allowed. But I can say it here all I want to: God never leaves us alone. We can depend on his love, which is stronger than any angst ever could be. According to this linked web site, the Bible tells us not to fear 365 times. God knows fear is widespread and contagious, and he does not want us to be enslaved by it.

First John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

In his love, we can find peace.

Angst

https://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2008/02/angst.html

Hearing the Right Voice

On March 29, 1999, Global Hawk Unmanned Aerial Vehicle No. 2, a $45 million spy plane, puzzled its earth-bound pilots by going into the termination mode. It just wiped out all its classified computer data, set itself into death mode, and spiraled into the ground in “a pre-programmed, rolling, vertical descent from an altitude of 41,000 feet.”

Upon investigation, the Air Force learned that the unmanned plane committed suicide. $45 million down the drain on purpose. What happened? Apparently, it picked up a signal meant for another unmanned Aerial Vehicle miles away, took the message to heart, and killed itself. The Air Force said the incident was “unfortunate.”

Sometimes the same kind of thing happens to people. They listen to the wrong voice and self-destruct—voices saying “you’re not worth anything and never have been any good.” These are the voices of darkness and evil. The results are often unfortunate, to say the least, and unnecessary if we just listen to the right voice.

Voices from light and life come from God. God speaks to us through circumstances, through other people, through the Bible. Sometimes he speaks in an audible voice, a shout or a soft whisper. If we form the habit of listening, we can hear his gentle, loving voice.

The picture comes from this linked site.

Hearing the Right Voice

https://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2008/02/hearing-right-voice.html

A Psalm

The book of Psalms is very beautiful. “Psalms” means songs. It has songs and poems to represent every imaginable human emotion. In my Disciple Bible Study group last week, our text suggested that we write our own psalm.

Here’s mine:

O Lord my God, you are my rock and my defender.

I praise you early and late.

Your love is better than all earthly life has to offer.

Protect my spirit from the words of the unbeliever,

I pray. Give me courage to speak your name.

Your love holds me up forever, and

My heart will always seek the beauty and truth

Of your love.

A Psalm

https://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2008/01/psalm.html

Ecclesiastes: Futility

The Disciple Bible study, Under the Tree of Life, is the fourth in the Disciple series. This is my fourth year to participate with the group at my church, so I’m well engrained in the structure of it. Every time we read over some part of the Bible that we’ve studied before, I learn new things. Our group has grown very close, as we’ve studied, shared our concerns, and prayed together.

This week, we are reading Ecclesiastes; we’re reading it next week, too. This week, we are asked to read it with a pessimistic view, as if we didn’t know the hope of God through Christ, “from the perspective of futility.” Here is the assignment:

“Look for mystery, vain things, incongruities, ambivalence, irony, chance, punctured pride, injustice, tragedy, and death. Look at life as it really is. Consider your own death” (70).

Every week’s lesson gives us an assessment of the human condition that has us pretty well pegged. This week’s “Human Condition” is this:

“We live as if tomorrow were a sure thing. We accumulate. The next new experience, the next new possession—we gather them around us to distract us from the fact that nothing lasts. That we’re going to die” (70).

People who have been Christians for years need to remember how it was before they came to know God. They need to remember how it felt to be hopeless and to find life meaningless. I remember.

I find myself resistant to really getting into that perspective. I have vivid memories of that view of life, because I lived it for fifty years before I was rescued from myself by God. I really don’t want to re-live those feelings.

Wilke, Richard Byrd, and Julia Kitchens Wilke. Disciple: Under the Tree of Life Study Manual. Abingdon, 2001.

Ecclesiastes: Futility

https://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2007/11/ecclesiastes-futility.html

Hungry and Needy

It is important to be present in every moment—to truly be there, not absent-minded or half-there because of distraction or worry. It’s easy to get that way because of a vague sense of being needy or bored or sick or fatigued, or a feeling that there somehow has to be more to life.

We do all kinds of things, trying to feel better, to fill up the emptiness. Eating too much is a feel-good activity that lots of us are into these days.

See this, for example, from a blog about overeating: "For some people, eating is a compulsion. Men and women of all ages force themselves to eat too much or too little, and suffer tremendous psychological pain when they do. Eating, body weight and image become an obsession that damages relationships and has serious medical consequences.

"Food addiction is a disorder characterized by preoccupation with food, the availability of food and the anticipation of pleasure from the ingestion of food."

But the good feelings don’t last, and that’s because only closeness to God gives that rich, satisfied feeling.

Overeating is not a sickness itself, but a symptom of sickness. The real sickness is isolation from God, a deeper-than-the-bones soul sickness. He satisfies “more than the richest feast.”

Psalm 63 says it well—David was in the wilderness, thirsty, lonely and needy:

O God, you are my God;
I earnestly search for you.
My soul thirsts for you;
my whole body longs for you
in this parched and weary land
where there is no water.
I have seen you in your sanctuary
and gazed upon your power and glory.
Your unfailing love is better than life itself;
how I praise you!
I will praise you as long as I live,
lifting up my hands to you in prayer.
You satisfy me more than the richest feast.
I will praise you with songs of joy.

I lie awake thinking of you,
meditating on you through the night.
Because you are my helper,
I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings.
I cling to you;
your strong right hand holds me securely.

The picture and quote come from www.themorbidme.com ; the Bible passage is from www.biblegateway.com

Hungry and Needy

https://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2007/11/hungry-and-needy.html