I have spent the day thinking and reading. I have found an online book store, Grove Books, that has some interesting books on various topics. So on with the reading!
I think I have come to some conclusions about my life. Not sure if they will work out or even make sense to anyone else. But it is a context for me to explore more fully. More to come!
I have been posting for 97 days straight. So I will (hopefully) make it to 100 this week.
I am always struck by other people’s faith. I feel my own is so small and limited – often more intellectualised than real – that I often envy how other people experience Jesus. I guess it is always easier looking in from the outside. And people tell you what they want you to hear. But I have seen real faith in my life – people living sacrificial love for Jesus and their neighbour.
But this morning it struck me: all these people are sent to me as a witness. A witness of what it means to follow Jesus. A witness of faithfulness. Not that they are better than me – which, of course, they are. But rather that I am not alone in this journey. I am not walking by myself. Yes, in the end, I give account for my life alone before the throne of grace. But at this very moment in time, I am given the strength of witnesses to Jesus.
I have a thing for tea. I used to drink coffee but it does not agree with my stomach. So I have become a complete teetotaller.
I found the above set and thought I would indulge in a cup of French Earl Grey. I simply love the aroma. Any day that starts with tea is going to be a good day.
While this article, Kierkegaard and Australia’s sense of historical despair, is a little on the old side, it is an interesting read. Maybe one observation:
Kierkegaard’s idea of what it means to be an Australian would surely have matched his idea of what it meant to be a Christian—an idea that was far removed from what he saw around him, especially within the institution of the Danish State church.
Being a Christian is about a relationship with God in Jesus. That is hardly comparable to being an Australian? I think this illustrates one of the points about Kierkegaard that frustrates me most: he is above all a Christian, writing about being a Christian, alone before God. Some of his more philosophical work prepares the way for his Christian work which prepares the way for his “upbuilding work”.
Anyway, read the above.
I like this quote. It sounds like something that SK would say. Or even Jesus! I have not read any Tolstoy but if that is a picture of him I like the beard and the hat!
I have decided to re-work the blog and podcast. So, in short, I am shelving the old podcast (I may use the feed occasionally) and starting a new podcast that will be more “discipleship focused”.
The podcast will be called “Let’s Talk About Jesus”. There is an Instagram and a Facebook page. And I have created a YouTube channel as well. I am hoping to include some interviews in the podcast. But simply to explore what it means to be a follower of Jesus today.
More information to come!
So I have posted for 93 days straight. Without stopping or missing a day. But today I am out of ideas. I feel exhausted and emotionally drained and numb. So this is Day 94 – not very interesting!
From the very beginning, I have stressed and repeated unchanged that I was ‘without authority.’ I regard myself rather as a reader of the books, not as the author. ‘Before God,’ religiously, I call my whole work as an author (when I speak with myself) my own upbringing and development, but not in the sense as if I were now complete or completely finished with respect to needing upbringing and development.
On My Work as an Author (1851)
The problem with authority is that you always are speaking on someone else’e behalf. I think SK understood that in the religious sense. I have come to appreciate that I am completely without authority.
Once in a while a pastor causes a little hubbub from the pulpit, about their being something wrong somewhere with all these numerous Christians – but all those to whom he is speaking are Christians, and those he speaks about are not present.
The Point Of View For My Work As An Author (1848)
Sermons are sometimes more about validating the audience than challenging their unbelief.
I have been reading Julian of Norwich: Revelations of Divine Love. Just a couple quotes:
BEING A NOBODY in a society obsessed with prestige and prosperity is a challenging position; and yet embracing a state of utter nothingness, renouncing the clutter of worldly possessions and the preoccupation with social status, can, in fact, be a totally liberating experience.
Yes, being utter nothingness is very countercultural. There is a sense that being nothing is about being a person – a “no thing”. But in a world of objects that can be measured and valued, being a person is often being nothing.
For if I look at myself, I am really nothing; but as one of mankind in general, I am in oneness of love with all my fellow Christians; for upon this oneness of love depends the life of all who shall be saved; for God is all that is good, and God has made all that is made, and God loves all that he has made.
Yes, being nothing is about oneness with everyone else who is nothing. And about oneness with God who is above all a “no thing”.
