artistic friends …
My neighbor and friend Stephanie Beach has been traveling through Asia for several months, creating art along the way - some of her art is on display in Penang, Malaysia, which you can get a taste of here ...
My former colleague and friend Bob Jackson continues to produce amazing work just around the globe from Malaysia (in Delaware), which you can see here.
When I was in the Dominican Republic recently, I was given a beautiful original painting by Pedro Pablo Mendez Garcia, whose work you can see here.
Sometime I'll have to video my walls and share some of the art and memorabilia that surround me when I'm at home in my office.
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a day in dc … sorry, no breakfast this month
I'll be spending the day in DC today ... several meetings with interesting people.
I've been doing little breakfast meetings here in Maryland every couple months, but I won't be able to schedule one until the fall. Stay tuned ...
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Prayer Regarding Critics and Enemies by Serbian Orthodox Bishop
By Bishop Nikolai Velimirovic, Serbian bishop who spoke out against Naziism, was arrested, and taken to Dachau.
Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them. Enemies have driven me into your embrace more than friends have. Friends have bound me to earth; enemies have loosed me from earth and have demolished all my aspirations in the world.
Enemies have made me a stranger in worldly realms and an extraneous inhabitant of the world.
Just as a hunted animal finds safer shelter than an unhunted animal does, so have I, persecuted by enemies, found the safest sanctuary, having ensconced myself beneath Your tabernacle, where neither friends nor enemies can slay my soul.
Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless and do not curse them.
They, rather than I, have confessed my sins before the world. They have punished me, whenever I have hesitated to punish myself. They have tormented me, whenever I have tried to flee torments. They have scolded me, whenever I have flattered myself. They have spat upon me, whenever I have filled myself with arrogance. Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.
Whenever I have made myself wise, they have called me foolish. Whenever I have made myself mighty, they have mocked me as though I were a [fly].
Whenever I have wanted to lead people, they have shoved me into the background.
Whenever I have rushed to enrich myself, they have prevented me with an iron hand.
Whenever I thought that I would sleep peacefully, they have wakened me from sleep.
Whenever I have tried to build a home for a long and tranquil life, they have demolished it and driven me out.
Truly, enemies have cut me loose from the world and have stretched out my hands to the hem of your garment.
Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.
Bless them and multiply them; multiply them and make them even more bitterly against me:
So that my fleeing will have no return; So that all my hope in men may be scattered like cobwebs; So that absolute serenity may begin to reign in my soul; So that my heart may become the grave of my two evil twins: arrogance and anger;
So that I might amass all my treasure in heaven; Ah, so that I may for once be freed from self-deception, which has entangled me in the dreadful web of illusory life.
Enemies have taught me to know what hardly anyone knows, that a person has no enemies in the world except himself. One hates his enemies only when he fails to realize that they are not enemies, but cruel friends.
It is truly difficult for me to say who has done me more good and who has done me more evil in the world: friends or enemies. Therefore bless, O Lord, both my friends and my enemies. A slave curses enemies, for he does not understand. But a son blesses them, for he understands.
For a son knows that his enemies cannot touch his life. Therefore he freely steps among them and prays to God for them. Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.
© Copyright 2003-2008 Brian McLaren
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“some of us”
I've had the privilege of being at my home church the last two weeks - a real treat after a spring of almost constant travel. Being there inspired this simple little country song.
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Listen to Elizabeth Palmberg and Soong-Chan Rah
Elizabeth's got it right over at sojo.net, reminding us of the under-recognized danger of consensus. There are important theological implications of her economic/political point, don't you think?
And Soong-Chan has it right as well ... As his important new book makes clear ... just as the culture-war generation of white Evangelicalism has been largely discredited (supporting an elective war, failing to oppose torture, not to mention a better-late-than-never lukewarm response to the environmental crisis, etc.), a next generation of Evangelicalism is arising - no longer mono-cultural, no longer docile in relation to the right wing. Thank God, the conventional Evangelical consensus is being challenged and diverse voices are being heard. Good reading on the Memorial Day weekend.
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