bumper sticker:
"My God Is Alive, Sorry About Yours"
Friday, October 31, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
"I appreciate …"
quote:
~ Holly Jessen, North Dakota
At the end of every day, my husband, Chad, and I share one thing we appreciate about each other. "I appreciate that you still open the car door for me, even after two years of marriage," I told him one day, reminded what a romantic guy I'd married. Some days he'll speak up before I have a chance; others, he'll up the ante, giving me two or three "I appreciates." The positive effect of our appreciation ripples throughout our day, allowing our mutual love and respect to grow.
~ Holly Jessen, North Dakota
Monday, October 27, 2008
Einstein on Success
Einstein supposedly said, "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."
He also said, "If A equals success, then the formula is: A = X + Y + Z, where X is work, Y is play, and Z is keep your mouth shut."
He also said, "If A equals success, then the formula is: A = X + Y + Z, where X is work, Y is play, and Z is keep your mouth shut."
Thursday, October 23, 2008
"If there is no God, then everything is permitted."
from Dostoyevsky's masterpiece The Brothers Karamazov
"If there is no God, then everything is permitted."
~ Fyodor Dostoevsky
"If there is no God, then everything is permitted."
~ Fyodor Dostoevsky
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Down Is the New Up
quotes from
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/
2008/10/21/AR2008102102735_2.html?nav=hcmoduletmv
The bottom-feeder doesn't mind hunting alone ... gloom is the bottom-feeder's natural habitat.
Murphy, a retired corporate executive who made a bundle in the 1980s when the technology company he founded went public, doesn't sound giddy. Just confident.
Friends and loved ones are panicking, quivering, hiding, selling. But the bottom-feeder has faith in the markets, faith in the charts that say stocks outperform other investments over the long haul, faith that things will get better. And available cash. ...
He's coolly looking at the numbers, all logic and reason. ...
He stayed faithful when the market crashed in 1987. And his portfolio bounced back.
He stayed faithful when the dot-com bubble burst in the 1990s. And his portfolio bounced back.
He's faithful today, even with the market tanking and a recession either looming, or already here. He's almost Zen about it.
"A recession is like a forest fire that helps burn out some of the dead stuff on the ground," he says, "so that the forest can survive." ...
Richard Peterson is a psychiatrist who runs a hedge fund, as well as a consulting business called MarketPsych. Peterson thrives on bad news -- when the fear centers of other investors' brains are screaming "flight" (sell), he wants to stay and "fight" (buy). They've got the same brains, he just manipulates his differently. As a neuroscientist, he's fascinated by human behavior; as an investor he can't resist a deal.
"I love it," he says.
Peterson developed a program that tracks despairing words in financial news shows, corporate conference calls and Securities and Exchange Commission filings. A kind of personal Google of pessimism. Peterson's method is all about "buying panic and selling optimism." And lately, it has been telling him to buy, buy, buy. He's been scooping up shares of all kinds of companies, including a couple he remembers only by their ticker symbols: USAP and MIND.
"I don't exactly know what these companies do," he says, before quickly explaining that he's into crunching numbers to identify companies with stock prices that don't reflect the health of their balance sheets. "This is the opportunity of a lifetime." ...
As the markets plummet, Montgomery feels like he is going through a "surreal experience. In this kind of market everything is a stomach-churning event."
But he keeps going back to his principles, bucking up his faith. He remembers an "old sage" telling him that their business was best viewed upside down: The right thing to do was the opposite of what he was seeing, like Jerry Seinfeld's Bizarro Land. He studies the charts, ponders the "weight of the evidence, value extremes, oversold and overbought stocks." He marshals mysterious inner forces. Everything begins to make sense.
Finally, on Oct. 8 and again on Oct. 9 -- "Freefall Friday," as Britain's Daily Mail called it -- Montgomery starts placing orders for his clients.
He has passed his test of faith.
"You don't have many opportunities like this -- mercifully," he says.
He falls back on one of his many mantras: "Being irrational at irrational times will prove to be beneficial." The market, he's decided, is being totally irrational.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/
2008/10/21/AR2008102102735_2.html?nav=hcmoduletmv
The bottom-feeder doesn't mind hunting alone ... gloom is the bottom-feeder's natural habitat.
Murphy, a retired corporate executive who made a bundle in the 1980s when the technology company he founded went public, doesn't sound giddy. Just confident.
Friends and loved ones are panicking, quivering, hiding, selling. But the bottom-feeder has faith in the markets, faith in the charts that say stocks outperform other investments over the long haul, faith that things will get better. And available cash. ...
He's coolly looking at the numbers, all logic and reason. ...
He stayed faithful when the market crashed in 1987. And his portfolio bounced back.
He stayed faithful when the dot-com bubble burst in the 1990s. And his portfolio bounced back.
He's faithful today, even with the market tanking and a recession either looming, or already here. He's almost Zen about it.
"A recession is like a forest fire that helps burn out some of the dead stuff on the ground," he says, "so that the forest can survive." ...
Richard Peterson is a psychiatrist who runs a hedge fund, as well as a consulting business called MarketPsych. Peterson thrives on bad news -- when the fear centers of other investors' brains are screaming "flight" (sell), he wants to stay and "fight" (buy). They've got the same brains, he just manipulates his differently. As a neuroscientist, he's fascinated by human behavior; as an investor he can't resist a deal.
"I love it," he says.
Peterson developed a program that tracks despairing words in financial news shows, corporate conference calls and Securities and Exchange Commission filings. A kind of personal Google of pessimism. Peterson's method is all about "buying panic and selling optimism." And lately, it has been telling him to buy, buy, buy. He's been scooping up shares of all kinds of companies, including a couple he remembers only by their ticker symbols: USAP and MIND.
"I don't exactly know what these companies do," he says, before quickly explaining that he's into crunching numbers to identify companies with stock prices that don't reflect the health of their balance sheets. "This is the opportunity of a lifetime." ...
As the markets plummet, Montgomery feels like he is going through a "surreal experience. In this kind of market everything is a stomach-churning event."
But he keeps going back to his principles, bucking up his faith. He remembers an "old sage" telling him that their business was best viewed upside down: The right thing to do was the opposite of what he was seeing, like Jerry Seinfeld's Bizarro Land. He studies the charts, ponders the "weight of the evidence, value extremes, oversold and overbought stocks." He marshals mysterious inner forces. Everything begins to make sense.
Finally, on Oct. 8 and again on Oct. 9 -- "Freefall Friday," as Britain's Daily Mail called it -- Montgomery starts placing orders for his clients.
He has passed his test of faith.
"You don't have many opportunities like this -- mercifully," he says.
He falls back on one of his many mantras: "Being irrational at irrational times will prove to be beneficial." The market, he's decided, is being totally irrational.
The need for oxygen at the bottom of the pond
quoted from
http://midmichiganponds.com/management/ecology.php
(bold added)
Pond and Lake Ecology 101
Euthrophication is the natural aging process for lakes and ponds. As a lake or pond ages, it slowly starts to fill in with organic material such as decaying aquatic vegetation, dead fish, leaf litter, trees, etc. However, this slow process is greatly accelerated when we add additional sources of nutrients to the ecosystem. Goose manure, fertilizer runoff from lawns, agricultural runoff, failed septic systems and erosion problems are some of the main causes.
Dissolved oxygen (DO) is the form of oxygen that fish and other aquatic life need to stay alive. It is the single most important water quality parameter. Plants produce through photosynthesis about 75% of a pond's DO supply. The remaining 25% comes by absorption of oxygen from the atmosphere. Depending on the species, most fish need at least 4–ppm DO to survive.
Thermostratification is the process where lakes naturally stratify into three layers based on temperature. The top layer can sometimes by 10–15 degrees warmer than the bottom. The middle layer (called thermocline) is a thin zone where the temperature changes quickly. Once these layers become established, densitiy differences prevent the top and bottom layers from mixing and exchanging DO. All the DO producing is confined to the top layer, so as the summer progresses the bottom layers become stagnant and depleted of DO. Anaerobic bacteria start building up harmful levels of hydrogen sulfide (smells like rotten eggs), ammonia and methane.
Nature's Way of Pond Management
Inversion is the natural cleansing process of a pond or lake. It occurs in the spring and fall when the cooler water at the surface is heavier than the bottom water and sinks. This is nature's way of supplying oxygen rich water from the surface layer to the stagnant water at the bottom. The oxygen drives off toxic gases that build up in the bottom layer. It also revives the aerobic bacteria population so they can start decomposing the organic litter that has built up. Eventually the microbial activity will use up this fresh supply of DO and the bottom layer will again return to its stagnant condition until the next inversion occurs. Dissolved oxygen at the bottom of the pond is the single most important water quality parameter that drives nature's cleansing process. Unfortunately, this twice a year process is not enough to keep up with the build-up of organic material and when even more nutrients are added to the ecosystem the pond or lake starts filling in even faster.
Pond Management with Aeration
Aeration systems rely on the same cleansing principles of inversion, only the DO is circulated continuously. Instead of inverting a pond twice a year, a properly designed aeration system will invert a pond up to several times a day. By using various types of compressors, an aerator pumps atmospheric oxygen down to a weighted diffuser. The diffuser releases oxygen to the stagnant bottom layer and sediments where it is needed most. As the oxygen bubbles to the surface, it creates a slight current that lifts the stagnant water off the bottom and brings it to the surface where it gets cleansed with oxygen and healthy microbial activity. This current creates circulation (or inversion) constantly bring fresh water down to the bottom where it is needed, as well as throughout the entire pond. Maintaining high DO levels throughout the pond and especially the bottom is the key to a healthy ecosystem. Aeration is the long term approach to pond management because it targets the source of the problem and not just the symptoms.
http://midmichiganponds.com/management/ecology.php
(bold added)
Pond and Lake Ecology 101
Euthrophication is the natural aging process for lakes and ponds. As a lake or pond ages, it slowly starts to fill in with organic material such as decaying aquatic vegetation, dead fish, leaf litter, trees, etc. However, this slow process is greatly accelerated when we add additional sources of nutrients to the ecosystem. Goose manure, fertilizer runoff from lawns, agricultural runoff, failed septic systems and erosion problems are some of the main causes.
Dissolved oxygen (DO) is the form of oxygen that fish and other aquatic life need to stay alive. It is the single most important water quality parameter. Plants produce through photosynthesis about 75% of a pond's DO supply. The remaining 25% comes by absorption of oxygen from the atmosphere. Depending on the species, most fish need at least 4–ppm DO to survive.
Thermostratification is the process where lakes naturally stratify into three layers based on temperature. The top layer can sometimes by 10–15 degrees warmer than the bottom. The middle layer (called thermocline) is a thin zone where the temperature changes quickly. Once these layers become established, densitiy differences prevent the top and bottom layers from mixing and exchanging DO. All the DO producing is confined to the top layer, so as the summer progresses the bottom layers become stagnant and depleted of DO. Anaerobic bacteria start building up harmful levels of hydrogen sulfide (smells like rotten eggs), ammonia and methane.
Nature's Way of Pond Management
Inversion is the natural cleansing process of a pond or lake. It occurs in the spring and fall when the cooler water at the surface is heavier than the bottom water and sinks. This is nature's way of supplying oxygen rich water from the surface layer to the stagnant water at the bottom. The oxygen drives off toxic gases that build up in the bottom layer. It also revives the aerobic bacteria population so they can start decomposing the organic litter that has built up. Eventually the microbial activity will use up this fresh supply of DO and the bottom layer will again return to its stagnant condition until the next inversion occurs. Dissolved oxygen at the bottom of the pond is the single most important water quality parameter that drives nature's cleansing process. Unfortunately, this twice a year process is not enough to keep up with the build-up of organic material and when even more nutrients are added to the ecosystem the pond or lake starts filling in even faster.
Pond Management with Aeration
Aeration systems rely on the same cleansing principles of inversion, only the DO is circulated continuously. Instead of inverting a pond twice a year, a properly designed aeration system will invert a pond up to several times a day. By using various types of compressors, an aerator pumps atmospheric oxygen down to a weighted diffuser. The diffuser releases oxygen to the stagnant bottom layer and sediments where it is needed most. As the oxygen bubbles to the surface, it creates a slight current that lifts the stagnant water off the bottom and brings it to the surface where it gets cleansed with oxygen and healthy microbial activity. This current creates circulation (or inversion) constantly bring fresh water down to the bottom where it is needed, as well as throughout the entire pond. Maintaining high DO levels throughout the pond and especially the bottom is the key to a healthy ecosystem. Aeration is the long term approach to pond management because it targets the source of the problem and not just the symptoms.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Negative Emotions
"Cognitive science and neuroscience have shown that when we are gripped by negative emotions, we don't perform as well."
~ Dr. Annie McKee, organizational behavior specialist
~ Dr. Annie McKee, organizational behavior specialist
Jack Bogle's Rules For a Good Life
quoted from:
Market Moralist
by Art Carey, Inquirer Staff Writer
Sunday Oct. 19, 2008
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/
31242114.html?viewAll=y
Jack Bogle founded Vanguard Group Inc., famous for the low administrative cost of its mutual funds.
Jack Bogle's Rules For a Good Life
Rule No. 1: Get out of bed in the morning. If you don't do that, not very much is going to happen.
Once you get out of bed, try to have a good day.
Try to be a better parent.
Try to be a better husband.
Try to be a better colleague.
Try to help those around you.
Try to teach people.
Try to learn.
Try to do something completely off the wall.
Be conscious of the world around you, and try to make it a tiny bit better today.
If you do that, when you go to bed you'll get a good night's sleep.
Rule No. 2: Repeat Rule No. 1 the next day.
Jack Bogle's Five Rules of Investing
In times that try investors' souls, it's best not to let your emotions overwhelm your reason. Just as in bull markets we tend to think that stocks will keep on rising, so in bear markets we tend to think stocks will keep on falling. Neither, of course, can possibly be true. Never forget that "this, too, will pass away."
Whether times are good or bad, here are five proven principles that investors should follow:
1. Balance opportunity and risk. Allocate your assets between stocks and bonds consistent with your wealth, your tolerance for risk, and your age. (Your percentage allocation to bonds should equal your age.)
2. Diversify. Diversify. Diversify. Owning a very large number of individual stocks and bonds has always been a good idea. But in today's environment of financial failures, global competition and technological innovation, maximum diversification is essential. (Hint: owning a total stock-market index fund and a total bond-market index fund is a sound strategy.)
3. Focus on the long term. That is, be an investor who owns businesses, not a speculator who bets on stocks. In the short run, as Benjamin Graham has pointed out, the stock market is a voting machine, but in the long run it is a weighing machine.
4. Minimize the costs of investing. The beauty of indexing is not only that the diversification it offers is priceless, but that it is price-less. The management fees and expenses, sales loads, and hidden portfolio transaction costs of the typical actively managed mutual fund come to about 2 percent per year. Over, say, a 50-year investment lifetime, these costs will consume about 75 percent of your capital. The miracle of compounding returns can be overwhelmed by the tyranny of compounding costs.
5. Stay the course. The temptations to get out of the market (usually when it's gone way down) and to pile in (usually when it's setting new highs) are overwhelming, and clearly counterproductive. Do your best to follow these proven principles through the inevitable swings in the economy and in our financial markets, and do your best not to peek at your portfolio. When you build it over your career, and see what it's worth when it comes time to draw down some of it when you retire, you'll be amazed at how much wealth you've accumulated.
Market Moralist
by Art Carey, Inquirer Staff Writer
Sunday Oct. 19, 2008
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/
31242114.html?viewAll=y
Jack Bogle founded Vanguard Group Inc., famous for the low administrative cost of its mutual funds.
Jack Bogle's Rules For a Good Life
Rule No. 1: Get out of bed in the morning. If you don't do that, not very much is going to happen.
Once you get out of bed, try to have a good day.
Try to be a better parent.
Try to be a better husband.
Try to be a better colleague.
Try to help those around you.
Try to teach people.
Try to learn.
Try to do something completely off the wall.
Be conscious of the world around you, and try to make it a tiny bit better today.
If you do that, when you go to bed you'll get a good night's sleep.
Rule No. 2: Repeat Rule No. 1 the next day.
Jack Bogle's Five Rules of Investing
In times that try investors' souls, it's best not to let your emotions overwhelm your reason. Just as in bull markets we tend to think that stocks will keep on rising, so in bear markets we tend to think stocks will keep on falling. Neither, of course, can possibly be true. Never forget that "this, too, will pass away."
Whether times are good or bad, here are five proven principles that investors should follow:
1. Balance opportunity and risk. Allocate your assets between stocks and bonds consistent with your wealth, your tolerance for risk, and your age. (Your percentage allocation to bonds should equal your age.)
2. Diversify. Diversify. Diversify. Owning a very large number of individual stocks and bonds has always been a good idea. But in today's environment of financial failures, global competition and technological innovation, maximum diversification is essential. (Hint: owning a total stock-market index fund and a total bond-market index fund is a sound strategy.)
3. Focus on the long term. That is, be an investor who owns businesses, not a speculator who bets on stocks. In the short run, as Benjamin Graham has pointed out, the stock market is a voting machine, but in the long run it is a weighing machine.
4. Minimize the costs of investing. The beauty of indexing is not only that the diversification it offers is priceless, but that it is price-less. The management fees and expenses, sales loads, and hidden portfolio transaction costs of the typical actively managed mutual fund come to about 2 percent per year. Over, say, a 50-year investment lifetime, these costs will consume about 75 percent of your capital. The miracle of compounding returns can be overwhelmed by the tyranny of compounding costs.
5. Stay the course. The temptations to get out of the market (usually when it's gone way down) and to pile in (usually when it's setting new highs) are overwhelming, and clearly counterproductive. Do your best to follow these proven principles through the inevitable swings in the economy and in our financial markets, and do your best not to peek at your portfolio. When you build it over your career, and see what it's worth when it comes time to draw down some of it when you retire, you'll be amazed at how much wealth you've accumulated.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Bird face into the wind to stay unruffled
Ask Marilyn
Sunday's Column - October 19, 2008
Is there a difference between the “real” heat generated by a heating pad and the feeling of heat created by topical applications?
—D.M., Louisiana (city unknown)
Yes. Real heat increases the temperature of the affected area. Topical applications work in different ways. Many employ “counter-irritants” that cause increased blood flow to the local area, creating a feeling of warmth. One type is made from red pepper. It causes a burning sensation and depletes nearby nerve cells of a chemical that helps to relay pain impulses to the brain. Without this chemical, the neurons cannot transmit signals of pain, which brings relief.
If one product doesn’t work for your purpose, another may.
If you see birds on telephone or electric wires, they usually are facing the same direction. Why do they do this?
—John Farrell, Albuquerque, N.M.
Birds like to face into the wind. They land and take off that way, and facing windward helps keep their feathers unruffled.
When we use a washing machine, are the germs killed or just washed away?
—Alan Hardin (city unknown)
Ah, another illusion gone with your socks. Bacteria aren’t killed unless you’re using old-fashioned bleach. They aren’t all washed away, either. Lots of bacteria remain on your laundry. In fact, they redistribute themselves among everything in the load.
Marilyn vos Savant is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records Hall of Fame for "Highest IQ."
http://www.parade.com/askmarilyn/archive/Sundays-Column-10-19-08.html
Sunday's Column - October 19, 2008
Is there a difference between the “real” heat generated by a heating pad and the feeling of heat created by topical applications?
—D.M., Louisiana (city unknown)
Yes. Real heat increases the temperature of the affected area. Topical applications work in different ways. Many employ “counter-irritants” that cause increased blood flow to the local area, creating a feeling of warmth. One type is made from red pepper. It causes a burning sensation and depletes nearby nerve cells of a chemical that helps to relay pain impulses to the brain. Without this chemical, the neurons cannot transmit signals of pain, which brings relief.
If one product doesn’t work for your purpose, another may.
If you see birds on telephone or electric wires, they usually are facing the same direction. Why do they do this?
—John Farrell, Albuquerque, N.M.
Birds like to face into the wind. They land and take off that way, and facing windward helps keep their feathers unruffled.
When we use a washing machine, are the germs killed or just washed away?
—Alan Hardin (city unknown)
Ah, another illusion gone with your socks. Bacteria aren’t killed unless you’re using old-fashioned bleach. They aren’t all washed away, either. Lots of bacteria remain on your laundry. In fact, they redistribute themselves among everything in the load.
Marilyn vos Savant is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records Hall of Fame for "Highest IQ."
http://www.parade.com/askmarilyn/archive/Sundays-Column-10-19-08.html
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
The Importance of Voting
You are wrong if you do not vote.
You are to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's. Our Caesar [in
the United States] is a government of the people by the people for the
people. One vote may make the difference.
ONE VOTE made Oliver Cromwell Lord Protector of the Commonwealth and gave
him control of England. (1645)
ONE VOTE caused Charles I to be executed. (1649)
ONE VOTE kept Aaron Burr - later charged with treason - from becoming
President. (1800)
ONE VOTE elected Marcus Morton governor of Massachusetts. (1839)
ONE VOTE made Texas part of the United States. (1845)
ONE VOTE saved President Andrew Johnson from impeachment. (1868)
ONE VOTE changed France from a monarchy to a republic. (1875)
ONE VOTE admitted California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho into the
Union. (1850, 1850, 1889, 1890)
ONE VOTE elected Rutherford B. Hayes to the Presidency, and the man in the
Electoral College who cast that vote was an Indiana Representative also
elected by ONE VOTE. (1876)
ONE VOTE made Adolf Hitler head of the Nazi Party. (1923)
ONE VOTE maintained the Selective Service System only 12 weeks before
Pearl Harbor. (1941)
ONE VOTE per precinct would have elected Richard Nixon, rather than John
Kennedy, President. (1960)
I'm only one but I am one. I can't do everything but I can do something
and what I can do I ought to do and that by the grace of God I will do.
~ Author Unknown
You are to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's. Our Caesar [in
the United States] is a government of the people by the people for the
people. One vote may make the difference.
ONE VOTE made Oliver Cromwell Lord Protector of the Commonwealth and gave
him control of England. (1645)
ONE VOTE caused Charles I to be executed. (1649)
ONE VOTE kept Aaron Burr - later charged with treason - from becoming
President. (1800)
ONE VOTE elected Marcus Morton governor of Massachusetts. (1839)
ONE VOTE made Texas part of the United States. (1845)
ONE VOTE saved President Andrew Johnson from impeachment. (1868)
ONE VOTE changed France from a monarchy to a republic. (1875)
ONE VOTE admitted California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho into the
Union. (1850, 1850, 1889, 1890)
ONE VOTE elected Rutherford B. Hayes to the Presidency, and the man in the
Electoral College who cast that vote was an Indiana Representative also
elected by ONE VOTE. (1876)
ONE VOTE made Adolf Hitler head of the Nazi Party. (1923)
ONE VOTE maintained the Selective Service System only 12 weeks before
Pearl Harbor. (1941)
ONE VOTE per precinct would have elected Richard Nixon, rather than John
Kennedy, President. (1960)
I'm only one but I am one. I can't do everything but I can do something
and what I can do I ought to do and that by the grace of God I will do.
~ Author Unknown
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Grace - Kathleen Norris
"Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith" by Kathleen Norris
Amazon.com book reviewer:
The following is part of the passage on grace...Ms. Norris approaches the subject in a unique and enlightening way (She is speaking in the context of Jacob's flight from his brother Esau as told in Genesis 28):
Amazon.com book reviewer:
The following is part of the passage on grace...Ms. Norris approaches the subject in a unique and enlightening way (She is speaking in the context of Jacob's flight from his brother Esau as told in Genesis 28):
"God does not punish Jacob as he lies sleeping because he can see in him Israel, the foundation of a people. God loves to look at us, and loves it when we will look back at him. Even when we try to run away from our troubles, as Jacob did, God will find us, and bless us, even when we feel most alone, unsure if we'll survive the night. God will find a way to let us know that he is with us in this place, wherever we are, however far we think we've run. And maybe that's one reason we worship-to respond to grace. We praise God not to celebrate our own faith but to give thanks for the faith God has in us. To let ourselves look at God, and let God look back at us. And to laugh, and sing, and be delighted because God has called us his own."
Saturday, October 11, 2008
MESSIAH
Based on the story told by Scott Peck in his book, The Different Drum.
Once upon a time, there was a monastery that had fallen upon hard times. Once a great order, as a result of waves of persecution, and the rise of secularism, all the branch houses were lost. It had become decimated to the point that there were only five elders, all nuns and monks, left in the decaying hermitage. The abbot and four others were all over seventy in age. Clearly it was a dying order.
In the deep woods surrounding the hermitage there was a little hut that a rabbi from a nearby town occasionally used for a retreat. Through their many years of prayer and contemplation the elders had become a bit psychic, so they could always sense when the rabbi was in his hut. "The rabbi is in the woods, the rabbi is in the woods again," they would whisper to each other.
As he agonized over the imminent death of the order, it occurred to the abbot to visit the hut and ask the rabbi if by some possible chance he could offer any advice that might save the order. The rabbi welcomed the abbot at his hut. But when the abbot explained the purpose of his visit, the rabbi could only commiserate with him.
"I know how it is," he exclaimed. "The spirit has gone out of the people. It is the same in my town. Almost no one comes to the synagogue anymore."
So the old abbot and the old rabbi wept together. Then they read parts of the Torah and quietly spoke of deep things. The time came when the abbot had to leave. They embraced each other.
"It has been a wonderful thing that we should meet after all these years," the abbot said, "but I have still failed in my purpose for coming here. Is there nothing you can tell me, no piece of advice you can give me that would help me serve my dying order?"
"No, I’m sorry, "the rabbi responded. "I have no advice to give. The only thing I can tell you is that you will find the Messiah among you."
When the abbot returned to the hermitage the others gathered around him to ask, "Well, what did the rabbi say?"
"He couldn't help," the abbot answered. "We just wept and read the Torah together. The only thing he did say, just as I was leaving, it was something cryptic, was we would find the Messiah among us. I don't know what he meant."
In the following days and weeks and months, the elders pondered this and wondered whether there was any possible significance to the rabbi's words. We will find the Messiah among us. Could he possibly have meant one of us here at the hermitage? If that's the case, who is it? Do you suppose he meant the abbot? Yes, if he meant anyone, he probably meant Father Abbot. He’s been our leader for more than a generation.
On the other hand, he might have meant Brother Thomas. Certainly Brother Thomas is holy. Everyone knows Thomas is a man of light.
Certainly he could not have meant Sister Ellen! Ellen gets crotchety at times. But come to think of it, even though she’s a thorn in people's sides, when you look back on it, Ellen is virtually always right. Often very right. Maybe the rabbi did mean Sister Ellen.
But surely not Brother Phillip. Phillip is so passive, a real nobody. But then, almost mysteriously, he has a gift for somehow always being there when you need him and saying the right thing. Maybe Phillip is the Messiah.
Could the Rabbi have meant that we’d find the Messiah in one of those who come to us for aid? But they are all so poor and often quite dirty! Surely the messiah would not be found like that! Yet the scripture does tell us what we do to the least of these is done to our Lord.
Of course the rabbi didn't mean me. He couldn't possibly have meant me. I'm just an ordinary person. Yet supposing he did? Suppose I'm the Messiah. O God, not me. I couldn't be that much for you, could I?
As they contemplated in this manner, the elders began to treat each other, and everyone they met with extraordinary respect on the off chance that one among them might actually be the Messiah. And on the off, off chance that each elder might himself or herself be the Messiah, they began to treat themselves with extraordinary respect.
Because the forest in which it was situated was beautiful, it so happened people still occasionally came to visit the hermitage to picnic on its tiny lawn, to wander along some of its paths, even now and then to go into the dilapidated chapel to meditate. As they did so, without even being conscious of it, they sensed this aura of extraordinary respect that now began to surround the five elders. It seemed to radiate out from them and permeate the atmosphere of the place. There was something strangely attractive, even compelling, about it.
Hardly knowing why, they began to come back to the hermitage more frequently to picnic, to play, to pray. They began to bring their friends to show them this special place. And their friends brought their friends.
Then it happened that some of the younger persons who came to visit the hermitage started to talk more and more with the elders. After a while one asked if she could join them. Then another. And another. So within a few years the hermitage had once again become a thriving order. And, thanks to the rabbi's gift, a vibrant centre of light and spirituality in the realm.
Note:
the term "Messiah" means simply "the Bringer of the Kingdom"
http://www.heraldmag.org/olb/Contents/dictionaries/0PISBE.htm
Once upon a time, there was a monastery that had fallen upon hard times. Once a great order, as a result of waves of persecution, and the rise of secularism, all the branch houses were lost. It had become decimated to the point that there were only five elders, all nuns and monks, left in the decaying hermitage. The abbot and four others were all over seventy in age. Clearly it was a dying order.
In the deep woods surrounding the hermitage there was a little hut that a rabbi from a nearby town occasionally used for a retreat. Through their many years of prayer and contemplation the elders had become a bit psychic, so they could always sense when the rabbi was in his hut. "The rabbi is in the woods, the rabbi is in the woods again," they would whisper to each other.
As he agonized over the imminent death of the order, it occurred to the abbot to visit the hut and ask the rabbi if by some possible chance he could offer any advice that might save the order. The rabbi welcomed the abbot at his hut. But when the abbot explained the purpose of his visit, the rabbi could only commiserate with him.
"I know how it is," he exclaimed. "The spirit has gone out of the people. It is the same in my town. Almost no one comes to the synagogue anymore."
So the old abbot and the old rabbi wept together. Then they read parts of the Torah and quietly spoke of deep things. The time came when the abbot had to leave. They embraced each other.
"It has been a wonderful thing that we should meet after all these years," the abbot said, "but I have still failed in my purpose for coming here. Is there nothing you can tell me, no piece of advice you can give me that would help me serve my dying order?"
"No, I’m sorry, "the rabbi responded. "I have no advice to give. The only thing I can tell you is that you will find the Messiah among you."
When the abbot returned to the hermitage the others gathered around him to ask, "Well, what did the rabbi say?"
"He couldn't help," the abbot answered. "We just wept and read the Torah together. The only thing he did say, just as I was leaving, it was something cryptic, was we would find the Messiah among us. I don't know what he meant."
In the following days and weeks and months, the elders pondered this and wondered whether there was any possible significance to the rabbi's words. We will find the Messiah among us. Could he possibly have meant one of us here at the hermitage? If that's the case, who is it? Do you suppose he meant the abbot? Yes, if he meant anyone, he probably meant Father Abbot. He’s been our leader for more than a generation.
On the other hand, he might have meant Brother Thomas. Certainly Brother Thomas is holy. Everyone knows Thomas is a man of light.
Certainly he could not have meant Sister Ellen! Ellen gets crotchety at times. But come to think of it, even though she’s a thorn in people's sides, when you look back on it, Ellen is virtually always right. Often very right. Maybe the rabbi did mean Sister Ellen.
But surely not Brother Phillip. Phillip is so passive, a real nobody. But then, almost mysteriously, he has a gift for somehow always being there when you need him and saying the right thing. Maybe Phillip is the Messiah.
Could the Rabbi have meant that we’d find the Messiah in one of those who come to us for aid? But they are all so poor and often quite dirty! Surely the messiah would not be found like that! Yet the scripture does tell us what we do to the least of these is done to our Lord.
Of course the rabbi didn't mean me. He couldn't possibly have meant me. I'm just an ordinary person. Yet supposing he did? Suppose I'm the Messiah. O God, not me. I couldn't be that much for you, could I?
As they contemplated in this manner, the elders began to treat each other, and everyone they met with extraordinary respect on the off chance that one among them might actually be the Messiah. And on the off, off chance that each elder might himself or herself be the Messiah, they began to treat themselves with extraordinary respect.
Because the forest in which it was situated was beautiful, it so happened people still occasionally came to visit the hermitage to picnic on its tiny lawn, to wander along some of its paths, even now and then to go into the dilapidated chapel to meditate. As they did so, without even being conscious of it, they sensed this aura of extraordinary respect that now began to surround the five elders. It seemed to radiate out from them and permeate the atmosphere of the place. There was something strangely attractive, even compelling, about it.
Hardly knowing why, they began to come back to the hermitage more frequently to picnic, to play, to pray. They began to bring their friends to show them this special place. And their friends brought their friends.
Then it happened that some of the younger persons who came to visit the hermitage started to talk more and more with the elders. After a while one asked if she could join them. Then another. And another. So within a few years the hermitage had once again become a thriving order. And, thanks to the rabbi's gift, a vibrant centre of light and spirituality in the realm.
Note:
the term "Messiah" means simply "the Bringer of the Kingdom"
http://www.heraldmag.org/olb/Contents/dictionaries/0PISBE.htm
Finding Fault
Nothing would be done at all, if a man waited till he could do it so well, that no one could find fault with it.
John Henry Cardinal Newman
Lecture IX
John Henry Cardinal Newman
Lecture IX
Evening Prayer
May He support us all the day long,
till the shades lengthen, and the evening comes,
and the busy world is hushed,
and the fever of life is over,
and our work is done!
Then in His mercy may He give us safe lodging,
and a holy rest,
and peace at the last!
John Henry Cardinal Newman
Sermon 20 (1834)
till the shades lengthen, and the evening comes,
and the busy world is hushed,
and the fever of life is over,
and our work is done!
Then in His mercy may He give us safe lodging,
and a holy rest,
and peace at the last!
John Henry Cardinal Newman
Sermon 20 (1834)
Luther's Puppy and Prayer
'When Luther's puppy [n. 116, Luther's dog Tölpel is mentioned again and again in the Table Talk.] happened to be at the table, looked for a morsel from his master, and watched with open mouth and motionless eyes, he [Martin Luther] said, "Oh, if I could only pray the way this dog watches the meat! All his thoughts are concentrated on the piece of meat. Otherwise he has no thought, wish, or hope.
Luther's Works, Volume 54, Table Talk (Philadelphia: 1967), pp. 37, 38. May 18, 1532
Luther's Works, Volume 54, Table Talk (Philadelphia: 1967), pp. 37, 38. May 18, 1532
Martin Luther quotes
from
http://www.albatrus.org/english/potpourri
/quotes/martin_luther_quotes.htm
Martin Luther (1483 - 1546, 63 years)
It would be a good thing if young people were wise and old people were strong, but God has arranged things better. MARTIN LUTHER
I never work better than when I am inspired by anger; for when I am angry, I can write, pray, and preach well, for then my whole temperament is quickened, my understanding sharpened, and all mundane vexations and temptations depart. Martin Luther (1483-1546), Table-Talk, 319
I have a better Caretaker than you and all the angels. He it is who lies in a manger ... but at the same time sits at the right hand of God, the almighty Father. Therefore be at rest. -- Martin Luther , letter to his wife Kate: 1546, eleven days before his death.
Pray, and let God worry. -- Martin Luther
Unless I am convicted by scripture and plain reason -- I do not accept the authority of the popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other -- my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen .
Martin Luther, at the Imperial Diet at Worms, 18 April 1521.
The anabaptists pretend that children, not as yet having reason, ought not to receive baptism. I answer: That reason in no way contributes to faith. Nay, in that children are destitute of reason, they are all the more fit and proper recipients of baptism. For reason is the greatest enemy that faith has: it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but - more frequently than not - struggles against the Divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from God. If God can communicate the Holy Ghost to grown persons, he can, a fortiori, communicate it to young children. Faith comes of the Word of God, when this is heard; little children hear that Word when they receive baptism, and therewith they receive also faith.
Martin Luther (1483-1546), Table Talk CCCLIII [1569] .
Some one sent to know whether it was permissible to use warm water in baptism? The Doctor replied: "Tell the blockhead that water, warm or cold, is water. Martin Luther (1483-1546), Table Talk CCCLIV[1569].
There is not a word in the Bible which is extra cruem, which can be understood without reference to the cross.
MARTIN LUTHER
The Bible is the cradle wherein Christ is laid. Martin Luther
Either sin is with you, lying on your shoulders, or it is lying on Christ, the Lamb of God. Now if it is lying on your back, you are lost; but if it is resting on Christ, you are free, and you will be saved. Now choose what you want. --Martin Luther
Anything that one imagines of God apart from Christ is only useless thinking and vain idolatry. --Martin Luther
It is the duty of every Christian to be Christ to his neighbour. MARTIN LUTHER
Ah, we poor people, to be so cold and sluggish in the face of the great joy that has clearly been prepared for us! This great benefaction exceeds by far all the other works of creation; and yet our faith in it is found to be so weak, although it is preached and sung to us by angels, who are heavenly theologians and who were so glad for our sake! Their song is very, very beautiful and describes the entire Christian religion. For giving glory to God in the highest heaven is the supreme worship. This they wish and bring to us in the Christ ..
Martin Luther quoted in E. M. Plass, WHAT LUTHER SAYS, p.154
Let him who wants a true church cling to the Word by which everything is upheld. --Martin Luther
Next to faith this is the highest art -- to be content with the calling in which God has placed you. I have not learned it yet. -- Martin Luther
Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection not in words alone, but in every leaf in springtime. --Martin Luther
Dear Kate, we arrived in Halle today at eight, but did not continue on to Eisleben because a big Anabaptist met us with waves and hunks of ice. She flooded the land and threatened to rebaptize us ... We take refreshment and comfort in good Torgau beer and Rhenish wine, waiting to see whether the Saale (river) will come down ... The devil resents us, and he is in the water - so better safe than sorry.
Martin Luther to his wife:, in Theology of the Reformers, Timothy George.
I am afraid that the schools will prove the very gates of hell, unless they diligently labour in explaining the Holy Scriptures, and engraving them on the hearts of youth. I would advise no one to send his child where the Holy Scriptures are not supreme. Every institution in which men and women are not unceasingly occupied with the Word of God must be corrupt.--Martin Luther
The whole being of any Christian is Faith and Love... Faith brings the man to God, love brings him to men .
Martin Luther (1483-1546)
If any man doth ascribe aught of salvation, even the very least, to the free-will of man, he knoweth nothing of grace, and he hath not learnt Jesus Christ aright. Martin Luther
It is the most ungodly and dangerous business to abandon the certain and revealed will of God in order to search into the hidden mysteries of God. MARTIN LUTHER
Grace is given to heal the spiritually sick, not to decorate spiritual heroes. Martin Luther
If any man ascribes anything of salvation, even the very least thing, to the free will of man, he knows nothing of grace, and he has not learned Jesus Christ rightly. Martin Luther
Do not suppose that abuses are eliminated by destroying the object which is abused. Men can go wrong with wine and women. Shall we prohibit and abolish women? The sun, moon, and stars have been worshipped. Shall we pluck them out of the sky. Luther
Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness, I am your sin. You have taken upon yourself what is mine and given me what is yours. You have become what you were not so that I might become what I was not. MARTIN LUTHER
In Romans 7, St. Paul says, "The law is spiritual." What does that mean? If the law were physical, then it could be satisfied by works, but since it is spiritual, no one can satisfy it unless everything he does springs from the depths of the heart. But no one can give such a heart except the Spirit of God, who makes the person be like the law, so that he actually conceives a heartfelt longing for the law and henceforward does everything, not through fear or coercion, but from a free heart.-- Martin Luther (1483-1546), "Preface to the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans"
There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage. -- Martin Luther
The state of matrimony is the chief in the world after religion; but people shun it because of its inconveniences, like one who, running out of the rain, falls into the river. Martin Luther, Table Talk
A marriage without children is the world without the sun. Augustine quoted in Martin Luther, Table Talk
Music makes people kinder, gentler, more staid and reasonable. The devil flees before the sound of music almost as much as before the word of God.
Martin Luther
Nothing on earth is so well-suited to make the sad merry, the merry sad, to give courage to the despairing, to make the proud humble, to lessen envy and hate, as music. Martin Luther
Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world. MARTIN LUTHER
It is the most ungodly and dangerous business to abandon the certain and revealed will of God in order to search in to the hidden mysteries of God. -- Martin Luther
Original sin is in us, like the beard. We are shaved today and look clean, and have a smooth chin; tomorrow our beard has grown again, nor does it cease growing while we remain on earth. --MARTIN LUTHER
Rest in the Lord; wait patiently for Him. In Hebrew, "Be silent in God, and let Him mould thee." Keep still, and He will mould thee to the right shape.
Martin Luther (1483-1546)
Whenever I happen to be prevented by the press of duties from observing my hour of prayer, the entire day is bad for me. MARTIN LUTHER
All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired, although not in the hour or in the measure, or the very thing which they ask; yet they will obtain something greater and more glorious than they had dared to ask. Martin Luther (1483-1546)
Grant that I may not pray alone with the mouth; help me that I may pray from the depths of my heart. Martin Luther
God has placed two ways before us in His Word: salvation by faith, damnation by unbelief (Mark 16:16). He does not mention purgatory at all. Nor is purgatory to be admitted, for it obscures the benefits and grace of Christ.
Martin Luther Table Talk
Dr. Henning asked: "Is reason to hold no authority at all with Christians, since it is to be set aside in matters of faith?" The Doctor replied: Before faith and the knowledge of God, reason is mere darkness; but in the hands of those who believe, 'tis an excellent instrument. All facilities and gifts are pernicious, exercised by the impious; but most salutary when possessed by godly persons." Martin Luther (1483-1546), Table Talk, LXXVI. [1569]
Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has; it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but--more frequently than not--struggles against the divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from God. Martin Luther (1483-1546), Table Talk [1569]
When God works in us, the will, being changed and sweetly breathed upon by the Spirit of God, desire and acts, not from compulsion, but responsively.
MARTIN LUTHER
When God wants to speak and deal with us, he does not avail himself of an angel but of parents, or the pastor, or of our neighbour. Martin Luther
God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees, and flowers, and clouds, and stars. Martin Luther
It is just like someone who is sick, and who believes the doctor who promises his full recovery. In the meantime, he obeys the doctor's orders in the hope of the promised recovery, and abstains from those things which he was told to lay off, so that he may in no way hinder the promised return to health...Now is this sick man well? He is sick in reality - but he is well on account of a sure promise of the doctor, whom he trusts, and who reckons him as already being cured...So he is at one and the same time time both a sinner and righteous. He is a sinner in reality, but righteous by the sure imputation and promise of God that he will continue to deliver him from sin until he has completely cured him. So he is entirely healthy in hope, but a sinner in reality. MARTIN LUTHER, commenting on Romans
This life therefore is not righteousness but growth in righteousness; not health but healing, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not what we shall be but we are growing toward it; the process is not yet finished but it is going on; this is not the end but it is the road. All does not yet gleam in glory but all is being purified. -- MARTIN LUTHER
I am much afraid that schools will prove to be the great gates of Hell unless they diligently labour in explaining the Holy Scriptures, engraving them in the hearts of youth. I advise no one to place his child where the Scriptures do not reign paramount. Every institution in which men are not increasingly occupied with the Word of God must become corrupt. Martin Luther
I more fear what is within me than what comes from without. --MARTIN LUTHER
The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn. Martin Luther
In the worst temptations nothing can help us but faith that God's Son has put on flesh, is bone, sits at the right hand of the Father, and prays for us. There is no mightier comfort.--Martin Luther
In this sort of temptation and struggle, contempt is the best and easiest method of winning over the devil. Laugh your adversary to scorn and ask who it is with whom you are talking. But by all means flee solitude, for the devil watches and lies in wait for you most of all when you are alone. This devil is conquered by mocking and despising him, not by resisting and arguing with him. Therefore, Jerome, joke and play games with your wife and others. In this way you will drive out your diabolical thoughts and take courage
Be of good courage, therefore, and cast these dreadful thoughts out of your mind. Whenever the devil pesters you with these thoughts, at once seek out the company of men, drink more, joke and jest, or engage in some other form of merriment. Sometimes it is necessary to drink a little more, play, jest, or even commit some infraction in defiance and contempt of the devil in order not to give him an opportunity to make us scrupulous about trifles. We shall be overcome if we worry too much about falling into some sin.
Accordingly if the devil should say, "Do not drink," you should reply to him, "On this very account, because you forbid it, I shall drink, and what is more, I shall drink a generous amount." Thus one must always do the opposite of that which Satan prohibits. What do you think is my reason for drinking wine undiluted, talking freely, and eating more often, if it is not to torment and vex the devil who made up his mind to torment and vex me. --Luther
If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battlefield besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point. --Martin Luther (1483-1546)
Peace if possible, truth at all costs. Martin Luther
The will is a beast of burden.
If God mounts it, it wishes and goes as God wills;
if Satan mounts it, it wishes and goes as Satan wills;
Nor can it choose its rider...
The riders contend for its possession.
Martin Luther (1483-1546)
The wisdom of the Greeks, when compared to that of the Jews, is absolutely bestial; for apart from God there can be no wisdom, not any understanding and insight. Martin Luther
No good ever came out of female domination. God created Adam master and lord of all living creatures, but Eve spoiled all. --Martin Luther, "Table Talk"(1532)
Who loves not woman, wine and song
Remains a fool his whole life long.
Martin Luther
If you are not allowed to laugh in heaven, I don't want to go there. --Martin Luther (1483-1546)
It is pleasing to God whenever thou rejoicest or laughest from the bottom of thy heart. --Martin Luther (1483-1546)
"It's true that a good diet is the best medicine when it suits the individual, but to live medically is to live wretchedly." Then he related some examples of deceased persons who starved themselves to death on the advice of their physicians. "I eat what I like and will die when God wills it."
Luther's Tabletalk from No.3801
He had a rose in his hand and marveled at it. "A glorious work of art by God," he said. "If a man had the capacity to make just one rose he would be given an empire! But the countless gifts of God are esteemed as nothing because they're always present. We see that God gives children to all men, the fruit of their bodies resembling the parents. A peasant is said to have three and four sons who look so much like him that they're easily mistaken for one another. All of these gifts are despised because they're always present. Luther's Tabletalk from No.4593
'When Luther's puppy [n. 116, Luther's dog Tölpel is mentioned again and again in the Table Talk.] happened to be at the table, looked for a morsel from his master, and watched with open mouth and motionless eyes, he [Martin Luther] said, "Oh, if I could only pray the way this dog watches the meat! All his thoughts are concentrated on the piece of meat. Otherwise he has no thought, wish, or hope.
Luther's Works, Volume 54, Table Talk (Philadelphia: 1967), pp. 37, 38. May 18, 1532
For some years now I have read through the Bible twice every year. If you picture the Bible to be a mighty tree and every word a little branch, I have shaken every one of these branches because I wanted to know what it was and what it meant. --Luther's Tabletalk No.1877
No good work is undertaken or done with wise reflection. It must all happen in a half-sleep. This is how I was forced to take up the office of teaching. If I had known what I know now, ten horses wouldn't have driven me to it. Moses and Jeremiah also complained that they were deceived. Nor would any man take a wife if he first gave real thought [to what might happen in marriage and the household]. Here Philip said that he had diligently observed that in history great deeds had never been done by old men. "This was so," said Luther, "when Alexander and Augustus were young; afterward men become too wise. They didn't do great things by deliberate choice but by a sort of impulse. If you young fellows were wise, the devil couldn't do anything to you, but since you aren't wise, you need us who are old. Our Lord God doesn't do great things except by violence, as they say." -- Luther's Tabletalk No. 406
Faith and the Spirit go together, but the Spirit is not always revealed. So Cornelius had the Holy Spirit before Peter came to him, although he didn't know it. Those in the book of Acts who said, "We don't know the Holy Spirit," also had the Spirit, just as the patriarchs in the Old Testament had Christ, although they didn't know him. They clung to the word, and through it they received the Holy Spirit. Later in the book of Acts he was manifested to them outwardly. It's to be understood thus: The Word comes first, and with the Word the Spirit breathes upon my heart so that I believe. Then I feel that I have become a different person and I recognize that the Holy Spirit is there. Accordingly these are two things: to have the Holy Spirit and to know that you have him. When somebody speaks in your ear, you hardly hear his words before you feel his breath, so strong is the breath. Even so, when the Word is proclaimed, the Holy Spirit accompanies it and breathes upon your heart. -- Luther's Tabletalk No. 402
One ought to love one's neighbour with a love as chaste as that of a bridegroom for his bride. In this case all faults are concealed and covered over and only the virtues are seen. -- Luther's Tabletalk No. 217
Serve the Lord with fear, and exult with trembling" (Psa 2:11). Let somebody bring this into harmony for me: exult and fear! My son Hans can do it in relation to me, but I can't do it in relation to God. When I'm writing or doing something else, my Hans sings a little tune for me. If he becomes too noisy and I rebuke him a little for it, he continues to sing but does it more privately and with a certain awe and uneasiness. This is what God wishes: that we be always cheerful, but with reverence.-- Luther's Tabletalk (from No. 148)
Ever since the fall of Adam the world knows neither God nor his creation. It lives altogether outside of the glory of God. Oh, what thoughts man might have had about the fact that God is in all creatures, and so might have reflected on the power and the wisdom of God in even the smallest flowers! Of a truth, who can imagine how God creates, out of the parched soil, such a variety of flowers, such pretty colours, such sweet vernal grass, beyond anything that a painter or apothecary could make! Yet God can bring out of the ground such colours as green, yellow, red, blue, brown. Adam and those around him would have been elevated by all this to the praise of God, and they would have made use of all created things with thanksgiving. Now we enjoy all this to overflowing, yet without understanding, like cattle or other beasts trampling the most beautiful blossoms and lilies underfoot. -- Luther's Tabletalk from No.4201
That the Creator himself comes to us and becomes our ransom - this is the reason for our rejoicing.-- Martin Luther 25 March 1533 "Table Talks"
Let us act with humility, cast ourselves at one another's feet, join hands with each other, and help one another. For here we battle not against pope or emperor, but against the devil, and do you imagine that he is asleep?--Martin Luther
Junker Henry means to be God and do as he pleases.-Martin Luther on Henry VIII, as the King marries Catherine Parr on 12 July 1543.
All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired, although not in the hour or in the measure, or the very thing which they ask; yet they will obtain something greater and more glorious than they had dared to ask.... Martin Luther (1483-1546)
Pray, and let God worry. -Martin Luther [b. 11/10/1483], in the last letter written to his wife Katy, before his death on 2/18/1546]
If God promises something, then faith must fight a long and bitter fight, for reason or the flesh judges that God's promises are impossible. Therefore faith must battle against reason and its doubts............. Faith is something that is busy, powerful and creative, though properly speaking, it is essentially an enduring than a doing. It changes the mind and heart. While reason holds to what is present, faith apprehends the things that are not seen. Contrary to reason, faith regards the invisible things as already materialized. This explains why faith, unlike hearing is not found in many, for only few believe, while the great majority cling to the things that are present and can be felt and handled rather than to the Word. ~ Martin Luther, The Promises
If anywhere the day is made holy for the mere day's sake -- if anyone set up its observance on a Jewish foundation, then I order you to work on it, to ride on it, to dance on it, to feast on it, to do anything that shall remove this encroachment on Christian liberty.- Luther
Beautiful music is the art of the prophets that can calm the agitations of the soul; it is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us. --Martin Luther (1483-1546)
A good preacher should have these qualities and virtues:
first, to teach systematically;
second, he should have a ready wit;
third, he should be eloquent;
fourth, he should have a good voice;
fifth, a good memory;
sixth, he should know when to make an end;
seventh, he should be sure of his doctrine;
eighth, he should venture and engage body and blood, wealth and honour, in the world;
ninth, he should suffer himself to be mocked and jeered of everyone....
Martin Luther (1483-1546), Table-Talk
http://www.albatrus.org/english/potpourri
/quotes/martin_luther_quotes.htm
http://www.albatrus.org/english/potpourri
/quotes/martin_luther_quotes.htm
Martin Luther (1483 - 1546, 63 years)
It would be a good thing if young people were wise and old people were strong, but God has arranged things better. MARTIN LUTHER
I never work better than when I am inspired by anger; for when I am angry, I can write, pray, and preach well, for then my whole temperament is quickened, my understanding sharpened, and all mundane vexations and temptations depart. Martin Luther (1483-1546), Table-Talk, 319
I have a better Caretaker than you and all the angels. He it is who lies in a manger ... but at the same time sits at the right hand of God, the almighty Father. Therefore be at rest. -- Martin Luther , letter to his wife Kate: 1546, eleven days before his death.
Pray, and let God worry. -- Martin Luther
Unless I am convicted by scripture and plain reason -- I do not accept the authority of the popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other -- my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen .
Martin Luther, at the Imperial Diet at Worms, 18 April 1521.
The anabaptists pretend that children, not as yet having reason, ought not to receive baptism. I answer: That reason in no way contributes to faith. Nay, in that children are destitute of reason, they are all the more fit and proper recipients of baptism. For reason is the greatest enemy that faith has: it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but - more frequently than not - struggles against the Divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from God. If God can communicate the Holy Ghost to grown persons, he can, a fortiori, communicate it to young children. Faith comes of the Word of God, when this is heard; little children hear that Word when they receive baptism, and therewith they receive also faith.
Martin Luther (1483-1546), Table Talk CCCLIII [1569] .
Some one sent to know whether it was permissible to use warm water in baptism? The Doctor replied: "Tell the blockhead that water, warm or cold, is water. Martin Luther (1483-1546), Table Talk CCCLIV[1569].
There is not a word in the Bible which is extra cruem, which can be understood without reference to the cross.
MARTIN LUTHER
The Bible is the cradle wherein Christ is laid. Martin Luther
Either sin is with you, lying on your shoulders, or it is lying on Christ, the Lamb of God. Now if it is lying on your back, you are lost; but if it is resting on Christ, you are free, and you will be saved. Now choose what you want. --Martin Luther
Anything that one imagines of God apart from Christ is only useless thinking and vain idolatry. --Martin Luther
It is the duty of every Christian to be Christ to his neighbour. MARTIN LUTHER
Ah, we poor people, to be so cold and sluggish in the face of the great joy that has clearly been prepared for us! This great benefaction exceeds by far all the other works of creation; and yet our faith in it is found to be so weak, although it is preached and sung to us by angels, who are heavenly theologians and who were so glad for our sake! Their song is very, very beautiful and describes the entire Christian religion. For giving glory to God in the highest heaven is the supreme worship. This they wish and bring to us in the Christ ..
Martin Luther quoted in E. M. Plass, WHAT LUTHER SAYS, p.154
Let him who wants a true church cling to the Word by which everything is upheld. --Martin Luther
Next to faith this is the highest art -- to be content with the calling in which God has placed you. I have not learned it yet. -- Martin Luther
Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection not in words alone, but in every leaf in springtime. --Martin Luther
Dear Kate, we arrived in Halle today at eight, but did not continue on to Eisleben because a big Anabaptist met us with waves and hunks of ice. She flooded the land and threatened to rebaptize us ... We take refreshment and comfort in good Torgau beer and Rhenish wine, waiting to see whether the Saale (river) will come down ... The devil resents us, and he is in the water - so better safe than sorry.
Martin Luther to his wife:, in Theology of the Reformers, Timothy George.
I am afraid that the schools will prove the very gates of hell, unless they diligently labour in explaining the Holy Scriptures, and engraving them on the hearts of youth. I would advise no one to send his child where the Holy Scriptures are not supreme. Every institution in which men and women are not unceasingly occupied with the Word of God must be corrupt.--Martin Luther
The whole being of any Christian is Faith and Love... Faith brings the man to God, love brings him to men .
Martin Luther (1483-1546)
If any man doth ascribe aught of salvation, even the very least, to the free-will of man, he knoweth nothing of grace, and he hath not learnt Jesus Christ aright. Martin Luther
It is the most ungodly and dangerous business to abandon the certain and revealed will of God in order to search into the hidden mysteries of God. MARTIN LUTHER
Grace is given to heal the spiritually sick, not to decorate spiritual heroes. Martin Luther
If any man ascribes anything of salvation, even the very least thing, to the free will of man, he knows nothing of grace, and he has not learned Jesus Christ rightly. Martin Luther
Do not suppose that abuses are eliminated by destroying the object which is abused. Men can go wrong with wine and women. Shall we prohibit and abolish women? The sun, moon, and stars have been worshipped. Shall we pluck them out of the sky. Luther
Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness, I am your sin. You have taken upon yourself what is mine and given me what is yours. You have become what you were not so that I might become what I was not. MARTIN LUTHER
In Romans 7, St. Paul says, "The law is spiritual." What does that mean? If the law were physical, then it could be satisfied by works, but since it is spiritual, no one can satisfy it unless everything he does springs from the depths of the heart. But no one can give such a heart except the Spirit of God, who makes the person be like the law, so that he actually conceives a heartfelt longing for the law and henceforward does everything, not through fear or coercion, but from a free heart.-- Martin Luther (1483-1546), "Preface to the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans"
There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage. -- Martin Luther
The state of matrimony is the chief in the world after religion; but people shun it because of its inconveniences, like one who, running out of the rain, falls into the river. Martin Luther, Table Talk
A marriage without children is the world without the sun. Augustine quoted in Martin Luther, Table Talk
Music makes people kinder, gentler, more staid and reasonable. The devil flees before the sound of music almost as much as before the word of God.
Martin Luther
Nothing on earth is so well-suited to make the sad merry, the merry sad, to give courage to the despairing, to make the proud humble, to lessen envy and hate, as music. Martin Luther
Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world. MARTIN LUTHER
It is the most ungodly and dangerous business to abandon the certain and revealed will of God in order to search in to the hidden mysteries of God. -- Martin Luther
Original sin is in us, like the beard. We are shaved today and look clean, and have a smooth chin; tomorrow our beard has grown again, nor does it cease growing while we remain on earth. --MARTIN LUTHER
Rest in the Lord; wait patiently for Him. In Hebrew, "Be silent in God, and let Him mould thee." Keep still, and He will mould thee to the right shape.
Martin Luther (1483-1546)
Whenever I happen to be prevented by the press of duties from observing my hour of prayer, the entire day is bad for me. MARTIN LUTHER
All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired, although not in the hour or in the measure, or the very thing which they ask; yet they will obtain something greater and more glorious than they had dared to ask. Martin Luther (1483-1546)
Grant that I may not pray alone with the mouth; help me that I may pray from the depths of my heart. Martin Luther
God has placed two ways before us in His Word: salvation by faith, damnation by unbelief (Mark 16:16). He does not mention purgatory at all. Nor is purgatory to be admitted, for it obscures the benefits and grace of Christ.
Martin Luther Table Talk
Dr. Henning asked: "Is reason to hold no authority at all with Christians, since it is to be set aside in matters of faith?" The Doctor replied: Before faith and the knowledge of God, reason is mere darkness; but in the hands of those who believe, 'tis an excellent instrument. All facilities and gifts are pernicious, exercised by the impious; but most salutary when possessed by godly persons." Martin Luther (1483-1546), Table Talk, LXXVI. [1569]
Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has; it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but--more frequently than not--struggles against the divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from God. Martin Luther (1483-1546), Table Talk [1569]
When God works in us, the will, being changed and sweetly breathed upon by the Spirit of God, desire and acts, not from compulsion, but responsively.
MARTIN LUTHER
When God wants to speak and deal with us, he does not avail himself of an angel but of parents, or the pastor, or of our neighbour. Martin Luther
God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees, and flowers, and clouds, and stars. Martin Luther
It is just like someone who is sick, and who believes the doctor who promises his full recovery. In the meantime, he obeys the doctor's orders in the hope of the promised recovery, and abstains from those things which he was told to lay off, so that he may in no way hinder the promised return to health...Now is this sick man well? He is sick in reality - but he is well on account of a sure promise of the doctor, whom he trusts, and who reckons him as already being cured...So he is at one and the same time time both a sinner and righteous. He is a sinner in reality, but righteous by the sure imputation and promise of God that he will continue to deliver him from sin until he has completely cured him. So he is entirely healthy in hope, but a sinner in reality. MARTIN LUTHER, commenting on Romans
This life therefore is not righteousness but growth in righteousness; not health but healing, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not what we shall be but we are growing toward it; the process is not yet finished but it is going on; this is not the end but it is the road. All does not yet gleam in glory but all is being purified. -- MARTIN LUTHER
I am much afraid that schools will prove to be the great gates of Hell unless they diligently labour in explaining the Holy Scriptures, engraving them in the hearts of youth. I advise no one to place his child where the Scriptures do not reign paramount. Every institution in which men are not increasingly occupied with the Word of God must become corrupt. Martin Luther
I more fear what is within me than what comes from without. --MARTIN LUTHER
The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn. Martin Luther
In the worst temptations nothing can help us but faith that God's Son has put on flesh, is bone, sits at the right hand of the Father, and prays for us. There is no mightier comfort.--Martin Luther
In this sort of temptation and struggle, contempt is the best and easiest method of winning over the devil. Laugh your adversary to scorn and ask who it is with whom you are talking. But by all means flee solitude, for the devil watches and lies in wait for you most of all when you are alone. This devil is conquered by mocking and despising him, not by resisting and arguing with him. Therefore, Jerome, joke and play games with your wife and others. In this way you will drive out your diabolical thoughts and take courage
Be of good courage, therefore, and cast these dreadful thoughts out of your mind. Whenever the devil pesters you with these thoughts, at once seek out the company of men, drink more, joke and jest, or engage in some other form of merriment. Sometimes it is necessary to drink a little more, play, jest, or even commit some infraction in defiance and contempt of the devil in order not to give him an opportunity to make us scrupulous about trifles. We shall be overcome if we worry too much about falling into some sin.
Accordingly if the devil should say, "Do not drink," you should reply to him, "On this very account, because you forbid it, I shall drink, and what is more, I shall drink a generous amount." Thus one must always do the opposite of that which Satan prohibits. What do you think is my reason for drinking wine undiluted, talking freely, and eating more often, if it is not to torment and vex the devil who made up his mind to torment and vex me. --Luther
If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battlefield besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point. --Martin Luther (1483-1546)
Peace if possible, truth at all costs. Martin Luther
The will is a beast of burden.
If God mounts it, it wishes and goes as God wills;
if Satan mounts it, it wishes and goes as Satan wills;
Nor can it choose its rider...
The riders contend for its possession.
Martin Luther (1483-1546)
The wisdom of the Greeks, when compared to that of the Jews, is absolutely bestial; for apart from God there can be no wisdom, not any understanding and insight. Martin Luther
No good ever came out of female domination. God created Adam master and lord of all living creatures, but Eve spoiled all. --Martin Luther, "Table Talk"(1532)
Who loves not woman, wine and song
Remains a fool his whole life long.
Martin Luther
If you are not allowed to laugh in heaven, I don't want to go there. --Martin Luther (1483-1546)
It is pleasing to God whenever thou rejoicest or laughest from the bottom of thy heart. --Martin Luther (1483-1546)
"It's true that a good diet is the best medicine when it suits the individual, but to live medically is to live wretchedly." Then he related some examples of deceased persons who starved themselves to death on the advice of their physicians. "I eat what I like and will die when God wills it."
Luther's Tabletalk from No.3801
He had a rose in his hand and marveled at it. "A glorious work of art by God," he said. "If a man had the capacity to make just one rose he would be given an empire! But the countless gifts of God are esteemed as nothing because they're always present. We see that God gives children to all men, the fruit of their bodies resembling the parents. A peasant is said to have three and four sons who look so much like him that they're easily mistaken for one another. All of these gifts are despised because they're always present. Luther's Tabletalk from No.4593
'When Luther's puppy [n. 116, Luther's dog Tölpel is mentioned again and again in the Table Talk.] happened to be at the table, looked for a morsel from his master, and watched with open mouth and motionless eyes, he [Martin Luther] said, "Oh, if I could only pray the way this dog watches the meat! All his thoughts are concentrated on the piece of meat. Otherwise he has no thought, wish, or hope.
Luther's Works, Volume 54, Table Talk (Philadelphia: 1967), pp. 37, 38. May 18, 1532
For some years now I have read through the Bible twice every year. If you picture the Bible to be a mighty tree and every word a little branch, I have shaken every one of these branches because I wanted to know what it was and what it meant. --Luther's Tabletalk No.1877
No good work is undertaken or done with wise reflection. It must all happen in a half-sleep. This is how I was forced to take up the office of teaching. If I had known what I know now, ten horses wouldn't have driven me to it. Moses and Jeremiah also complained that they were deceived. Nor would any man take a wife if he first gave real thought [to what might happen in marriage and the household]. Here Philip said that he had diligently observed that in history great deeds had never been done by old men. "This was so," said Luther, "when Alexander and Augustus were young; afterward men become too wise. They didn't do great things by deliberate choice but by a sort of impulse. If you young fellows were wise, the devil couldn't do anything to you, but since you aren't wise, you need us who are old. Our Lord God doesn't do great things except by violence, as they say." -- Luther's Tabletalk No. 406
Faith and the Spirit go together, but the Spirit is not always revealed. So Cornelius had the Holy Spirit before Peter came to him, although he didn't know it. Those in the book of Acts who said, "We don't know the Holy Spirit," also had the Spirit, just as the patriarchs in the Old Testament had Christ, although they didn't know him. They clung to the word, and through it they received the Holy Spirit. Later in the book of Acts he was manifested to them outwardly. It's to be understood thus: The Word comes first, and with the Word the Spirit breathes upon my heart so that I believe. Then I feel that I have become a different person and I recognize that the Holy Spirit is there. Accordingly these are two things: to have the Holy Spirit and to know that you have him. When somebody speaks in your ear, you hardly hear his words before you feel his breath, so strong is the breath. Even so, when the Word is proclaimed, the Holy Spirit accompanies it and breathes upon your heart. -- Luther's Tabletalk No. 402
One ought to love one's neighbour with a love as chaste as that of a bridegroom for his bride. In this case all faults are concealed and covered over and only the virtues are seen. -- Luther's Tabletalk No. 217
Serve the Lord with fear, and exult with trembling" (Psa 2:11). Let somebody bring this into harmony for me: exult and fear! My son Hans can do it in relation to me, but I can't do it in relation to God. When I'm writing or doing something else, my Hans sings a little tune for me. If he becomes too noisy and I rebuke him a little for it, he continues to sing but does it more privately and with a certain awe and uneasiness. This is what God wishes: that we be always cheerful, but with reverence.-- Luther's Tabletalk (from No. 148)
Ever since the fall of Adam the world knows neither God nor his creation. It lives altogether outside of the glory of God. Oh, what thoughts man might have had about the fact that God is in all creatures, and so might have reflected on the power and the wisdom of God in even the smallest flowers! Of a truth, who can imagine how God creates, out of the parched soil, such a variety of flowers, such pretty colours, such sweet vernal grass, beyond anything that a painter or apothecary could make! Yet God can bring out of the ground such colours as green, yellow, red, blue, brown. Adam and those around him would have been elevated by all this to the praise of God, and they would have made use of all created things with thanksgiving. Now we enjoy all this to overflowing, yet without understanding, like cattle or other beasts trampling the most beautiful blossoms and lilies underfoot. -- Luther's Tabletalk from No.4201
That the Creator himself comes to us and becomes our ransom - this is the reason for our rejoicing.-- Martin Luther 25 March 1533 "Table Talks"
Let us act with humility, cast ourselves at one another's feet, join hands with each other, and help one another. For here we battle not against pope or emperor, but against the devil, and do you imagine that he is asleep?--Martin Luther
Junker Henry means to be God and do as he pleases.-Martin Luther on Henry VIII, as the King marries Catherine Parr on 12 July 1543.
All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired, although not in the hour or in the measure, or the very thing which they ask; yet they will obtain something greater and more glorious than they had dared to ask.... Martin Luther (1483-1546)
Pray, and let God worry. -Martin Luther [b. 11/10/1483], in the last letter written to his wife Katy, before his death on 2/18/1546]
If God promises something, then faith must fight a long and bitter fight, for reason or the flesh judges that God's promises are impossible. Therefore faith must battle against reason and its doubts............. Faith is something that is busy, powerful and creative, though properly speaking, it is essentially an enduring than a doing. It changes the mind and heart. While reason holds to what is present, faith apprehends the things that are not seen. Contrary to reason, faith regards the invisible things as already materialized. This explains why faith, unlike hearing is not found in many, for only few believe, while the great majority cling to the things that are present and can be felt and handled rather than to the Word. ~ Martin Luther, The Promises
If anywhere the day is made holy for the mere day's sake -- if anyone set up its observance on a Jewish foundation, then I order you to work on it, to ride on it, to dance on it, to feast on it, to do anything that shall remove this encroachment on Christian liberty.- Luther
Beautiful music is the art of the prophets that can calm the agitations of the soul; it is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us. --Martin Luther (1483-1546)
A good preacher should have these qualities and virtues:
first, to teach systematically;
second, he should have a ready wit;
third, he should be eloquent;
fourth, he should have a good voice;
fifth, a good memory;
sixth, he should know when to make an end;
seventh, he should be sure of his doctrine;
eighth, he should venture and engage body and blood, wealth and honour, in the world;
ninth, he should suffer himself to be mocked and jeered of everyone....
Martin Luther (1483-1546), Table-Talk
http://www.albatrus.org/english/potpourri
/quotes/martin_luther_quotes.htm
Leaving North Haven - Michael L. Lindvall
Leaving North Haven - Michael L. Lindvall
"Hey Dave, you heard the one 'bout the old Swedish farmer up south of Sleepy Eye?" He let silence sit between us for a moment. "Ya, he loved his wife so much he almost told her."
p. 30
"I read Newman's timeless prayer to close:
'O Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed and the fever of life is over and our work is done. Then in Thy mercy, grant us a safe lodging and a holy rest and peace at the last.'
The most perfect sentence in the English language, some critic had once judged it, though actually it is two."
p. 97
(from Sermon 20, 1834, John Henry Cardinal Newman)
"Hunting and fishing were also, I came to understand, the door into something like male camaraderie. I knew that men sometimes allowed a shadow of intimacy with other men over beer, perhaps even coffee. But it was hunting and fishing that created a distinct male space where words that would otherwise be unspoken might comfortably be uttered. My wife told me I needed that, and I knew she was right."
P. 125
"The ancients, she learned, believed in a place named 'ultima Thule.' They believed it existed and wrote of it, though they were not of one mind about precisely where ultima Thule might be. They were in agreement on only one point, that ultima Thule was the northernmost land of human habitation. Some historians have guessed it to be Norway, others the Shetland Islands or perhaps even Iceland. Wherever it lay, a spiritual mist enshrouded the very words. Ultima Thule was the end of the earth, the last place one could go, the ultimate destination.
p. 195
What Luther said was this: 'This life, therefore, is ... not being, but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it; the process is not yet finished, but is going on; this is not the end, but it is the road.' Just so, Martin. There is no arriving in this life, no ultima Thule, only the blessed road."
p. 208
p.243-246 - Lindvall tells a version of the story below:
version from
www.wesley.co.nz/_mgxroot/page_10893.html
MESSIAH
Based on the story told by Scott Peck in his book, The Different Drum.
Once upon a time, there was a monastery that had fallen upon hard times. Once a great order, as a result of waves of persecution, and the rise of secularism, all the branch houses were lost. It had become decimated to the point that there were only five elders, all nuns and monks, left in the decaying hermitage. The abbot and four others were all over seventy in age. Clearly it was a dying order.
In the deep woods surrounding the hermitage there was a little hut that a rabbi from a nearby town occasionally used for a retreat. Through their many years of prayer and contemplation the elders had become a bit psychic, so they could always sense when the rabbi was in his hut. "The rabbi is in the woods, the rabbi is in the woods again," they would whisper to each other.
As he agonized over the imminent death of the order, it occurred to the abbot to visit the hut and ask the rabbi if by some possible chance he could offer any advice that might save the order. The rabbi welcomed the abbot at his hut. But when the abbot explained the purpose of his visit, the rabbi could only commiserate with him. "I know how it is," he exclaimed. "The spirit has gone out of the people. It is the same in my town. Almost no one comes to the synagogue anymore."
So the old abbot and the old rabbi wept together. Then they read parts of the Torah and quietly spoke of deep things. The time came when the abbot had to leave. They embraced each other. "It has been a wonderful thing that we should meet after all these years," the abbot said, "but I have still failed in my purpose for coming here. Is there nothing you can tell me, no piece of advice you can give me that would help me serve my dying order?"
"No, I’m sorry, "the rabbi responded. "I have no advice to give. The only thing I can tell you is that you will find the Messiah among you."
When the abbot returned to the hermitage the others gathered around him to ask, "Well, what did the rabbi say?" "He couldn't help," the abbot answered. "We just wept and read the Torah together. The only thing he did say, just as I was leaving, it was something cryptic, was we would find the Messiah among us. I don't know what he meant."
In the following days and weeks and months, the elders pondered this and wondered whether there was any possible significance to the rabbi's words. We will find the Messiah among us. Could he possibly have meant one of us here at the hermitage? If that's the case, who is it? Do you suppose he meant the abbot? Yes, if he meant anyone, he probably meant Father Abbot. He’s been our leader for more than a generation.
On the other hand, he might have meant Brother Thomas. Certainly Brother Thomas is holy. Everyone knows Thomas is a man of light.
Certainly he could not have meant Sister Ellen! Ellen gets crotchety at times. But come to think of it, even though she’s a thorn in people's sides, when you look back on it, Ellen is virtually always right. Often very right. Maybe the rabbi did mean Sister Ellen.
But surely not Brother Phillip. Phillip is so passive, a real nobody. But then, almost mysteriously, he has a gift for somehow always being there when you need him and saying the right thing. Maybe Phillip is the Messiah.
Could the Rabbi have meant that we’d find the Messiah in one of those who come to us for aid? But they are all so poor and often quite dirty! Surely the messiah would not be found like that! Yet the scripture does tell us what we do to the least of these is done to our Lord.
Of course the rabbi didn't mean me. He couldn't possibly have meant me. I'm just an ordinary person. Yet supposing he did? Suppose I'm the Messiah. O God, not me. I couldn't be that much for you, could I?
As they contemplated in this manner, the elders began to treat each other, and everyone they met with extraordinary respect on the off chance that one among them might actually be the Messiah. And on the off, off chance that each elder might himself or herself be the Messiah, they began to treat themselves with extraordinary respect.
Because the forest in which it was situated was beautiful, it so happened people still occasionally came to visit the hermitage to picnic on its tiny lawn, to wander along some of its paths, even now and then to go into the dilapidated chapel to meditate. As they did so, without even being conscious of it, they sensed this aura of extraordinary respect that now began to surround the five elders. It seemed to radiate out from them and permeate the atmosphere of the place. There was something strangely attractive, even compelling, about it. Hardly knowing why, they began to come back to the hermitage more frequently to picnic, to play, to pray. They began to bring their friends to show them this special place. And their friends brought their friends.
Then it happened that some of the younger persons who came to visit the hermitage started to talk more and more with the elders. After a while one asked if she could join them. Then another. And another. So within a few years the hermitage had once again become a thriving order. And, thanks to the rabbi's gift, a vibrant centre of light and spirituality in the realm.
"Hey Dave, you heard the one 'bout the old Swedish farmer up south of Sleepy Eye?" He let silence sit between us for a moment. "Ya, he loved his wife so much he almost told her."
p. 30
"I read Newman's timeless prayer to close:
'O Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed and the fever of life is over and our work is done. Then in Thy mercy, grant us a safe lodging and a holy rest and peace at the last.'
The most perfect sentence in the English language, some critic had once judged it, though actually it is two."
p. 97
(from Sermon 20, 1834, John Henry Cardinal Newman)
"Hunting and fishing were also, I came to understand, the door into something like male camaraderie. I knew that men sometimes allowed a shadow of intimacy with other men over beer, perhaps even coffee. But it was hunting and fishing that created a distinct male space where words that would otherwise be unspoken might comfortably be uttered. My wife told me I needed that, and I knew she was right."
P. 125
"The ancients, she learned, believed in a place named 'ultima Thule.' They believed it existed and wrote of it, though they were not of one mind about precisely where ultima Thule might be. They were in agreement on only one point, that ultima Thule was the northernmost land of human habitation. Some historians have guessed it to be Norway, others the Shetland Islands or perhaps even Iceland. Wherever it lay, a spiritual mist enshrouded the very words. Ultima Thule was the end of the earth, the last place one could go, the ultimate destination.
p. 195
What Luther said was this: 'This life, therefore, is ... not being, but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it; the process is not yet finished, but is going on; this is not the end, but it is the road.' Just so, Martin. There is no arriving in this life, no ultima Thule, only the blessed road."
p. 208
p.243-246 - Lindvall tells a version of the story below:
version from
www.wesley.co.nz/_mgxroot/page_10893.html
MESSIAH
Based on the story told by Scott Peck in his book, The Different Drum.
Once upon a time, there was a monastery that had fallen upon hard times. Once a great order, as a result of waves of persecution, and the rise of secularism, all the branch houses were lost. It had become decimated to the point that there were only five elders, all nuns and monks, left in the decaying hermitage. The abbot and four others were all over seventy in age. Clearly it was a dying order.
In the deep woods surrounding the hermitage there was a little hut that a rabbi from a nearby town occasionally used for a retreat. Through their many years of prayer and contemplation the elders had become a bit psychic, so they could always sense when the rabbi was in his hut. "The rabbi is in the woods, the rabbi is in the woods again," they would whisper to each other.
As he agonized over the imminent death of the order, it occurred to the abbot to visit the hut and ask the rabbi if by some possible chance he could offer any advice that might save the order. The rabbi welcomed the abbot at his hut. But when the abbot explained the purpose of his visit, the rabbi could only commiserate with him. "I know how it is," he exclaimed. "The spirit has gone out of the people. It is the same in my town. Almost no one comes to the synagogue anymore."
So the old abbot and the old rabbi wept together. Then they read parts of the Torah and quietly spoke of deep things. The time came when the abbot had to leave. They embraced each other. "It has been a wonderful thing that we should meet after all these years," the abbot said, "but I have still failed in my purpose for coming here. Is there nothing you can tell me, no piece of advice you can give me that would help me serve my dying order?"
"No, I’m sorry, "the rabbi responded. "I have no advice to give. The only thing I can tell you is that you will find the Messiah among you."
When the abbot returned to the hermitage the others gathered around him to ask, "Well, what did the rabbi say?" "He couldn't help," the abbot answered. "We just wept and read the Torah together. The only thing he did say, just as I was leaving, it was something cryptic, was we would find the Messiah among us. I don't know what he meant."
In the following days and weeks and months, the elders pondered this and wondered whether there was any possible significance to the rabbi's words. We will find the Messiah among us. Could he possibly have meant one of us here at the hermitage? If that's the case, who is it? Do you suppose he meant the abbot? Yes, if he meant anyone, he probably meant Father Abbot. He’s been our leader for more than a generation.
On the other hand, he might have meant Brother Thomas. Certainly Brother Thomas is holy. Everyone knows Thomas is a man of light.
Certainly he could not have meant Sister Ellen! Ellen gets crotchety at times. But come to think of it, even though she’s a thorn in people's sides, when you look back on it, Ellen is virtually always right. Often very right. Maybe the rabbi did mean Sister Ellen.
But surely not Brother Phillip. Phillip is so passive, a real nobody. But then, almost mysteriously, he has a gift for somehow always being there when you need him and saying the right thing. Maybe Phillip is the Messiah.
Could the Rabbi have meant that we’d find the Messiah in one of those who come to us for aid? But they are all so poor and often quite dirty! Surely the messiah would not be found like that! Yet the scripture does tell us what we do to the least of these is done to our Lord.
Of course the rabbi didn't mean me. He couldn't possibly have meant me. I'm just an ordinary person. Yet supposing he did? Suppose I'm the Messiah. O God, not me. I couldn't be that much for you, could I?
As they contemplated in this manner, the elders began to treat each other, and everyone they met with extraordinary respect on the off chance that one among them might actually be the Messiah. And on the off, off chance that each elder might himself or herself be the Messiah, they began to treat themselves with extraordinary respect.
Because the forest in which it was situated was beautiful, it so happened people still occasionally came to visit the hermitage to picnic on its tiny lawn, to wander along some of its paths, even now and then to go into the dilapidated chapel to meditate. As they did so, without even being conscious of it, they sensed this aura of extraordinary respect that now began to surround the five elders. It seemed to radiate out from them and permeate the atmosphere of the place. There was something strangely attractive, even compelling, about it. Hardly knowing why, they began to come back to the hermitage more frequently to picnic, to play, to pray. They began to bring their friends to show them this special place. And their friends brought their friends.
Then it happened that some of the younger persons who came to visit the hermitage started to talk more and more with the elders. After a while one asked if she could join them. Then another. And another. So within a few years the hermitage had once again become a thriving order. And, thanks to the rabbi's gift, a vibrant centre of light and spirituality in the realm.
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Tragedy and Comedy
"Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die."
~ Mel Brooks
~ Mel Brooks
Does absolute power always corrupt?
"All power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutlely."
~ Lord Acton
The Calvinistic Concept of Culture by Henry R. Van Til, page 34:
"Maybe the solution to the power problem is something like the solution to the sex problem. Both are given and to be used as expressions of love, for the glory of God and the good of another. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely when it is divorced from love, and when it is used for the glory and good of the individual."
~ David Wayne
http://jollyblogger.typepad.com/jollyblogger/
2006/01/does_power_real.html
~ Lord Acton
The Calvinistic Concept of Culture by Henry R. Van Til, page 34:
But culture, as such, is a gift of God to man as well as an obligation. The Germans have a word for it Gabe und Aufgabe. Thus man was at once servant and child. Man stood in that relationship to his Maker, wherein he knew God as his friend, and loved him as his Father. At the same time he had received dominion over all God's created world, to be lord and master in the name of his God. Unto this end he was to populate the earth with his kind and to cultivate it. This was not a matter of choice but of divine precept and it entered into the very constitution of man, so that man is essentially a cultural being.
The cultural urge, the will to rule and have power is increated. This is not demonic, or satanic, but divine in origin. True, men may misues and abuse power after the entrance of sin into the world, but to say with Lord Acton that all power corrupts and that absolute power corrupts absolutlely, which is quoted promiscuously by men who ought to know the Scriptures, is not wisdom but folly and confusion. For power belongs to man by virtue of his creation as a cultural creature. He was made to function in the realm of power and to develop his power to its highest potency - for God, of course! There's the rub! Men continually forget the divine original in paradise and take the condition of Paradise lost for granted as being normative.
"Maybe the solution to the power problem is something like the solution to the sex problem. Both are given and to be used as expressions of love, for the glory of God and the good of another. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely when it is divorced from love, and when it is used for the glory and good of the individual."
~ David Wayne
http://jollyblogger.typepad.com/jollyblogger/
2006/01/does_power_real.html
You have to use power while it corrupts you
David Brooks on Barack Obama
I was interviewing Obama a couple years ago, and ... I say, ‘Ever read a guy named Reinhold Niebuhr?’ And he says, ‘Yeah.’ So I say, ‘What did Niebuhr mean to you?’ For the next 20 minutes, he gave me a perfect description of Reinhold Niebuhr’s thought, which is a very subtle thought process based on the idea that you have to use power while it corrupts you.
I was interviewing Obama a couple years ago, and ... I say, ‘Ever read a guy named Reinhold Niebuhr?’ And he says, ‘Yeah.’ So I say, ‘What did Niebuhr mean to you?’ For the next 20 minutes, he gave me a perfect description of Reinhold Niebuhr’s thought, which is a very subtle thought process based on the idea that you have to use power while it corrupts you.
Monday, October 06, 2008
The trouble with being poor
"The trouble with being poor is that it takes up all your time."
~ Willem de Kooning
~ Willem de Kooning
Friday, October 03, 2008
What they make us see in ourselves
Sarah Grand said, “Our opinion of people depends less upon what we see in them, than upon what they make us see in ourselves”.
Be a priority manager
Don't be a time manager, be a priority manager. Cut your major goals into bite-sized pieces. Each small priority or requirement on the way to ultimate goal become a mini goal in itself.
~ Denis Waitley
~ Denis Waitley
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