Lifesong....

I've been listening to Casting Crowns a lot lately. When I heard the praise band at church sing LifeSong a few years ago, it became one of my favorite songs....

"I want to sign your name to the end of this day...knowing that my heart was true. Let my lifesong sing to you" Something to aspire to.

While browsing through the CD's at the library the other day, I found two by Casting Crowns. I've been listening to those two CD's for the past few weeks at work. Here at home, I've been watching their videos on You Tube and God Tube. There are a lot of them. Very inspiring stuff. Very moving.

The lead singer, Mark Hall, seems like just a regular guy...a sincere guy...a nice guy. From a short biography I found via google, it seems that he never aspired to be a star...or in a band...and thought he would always be a youth pastor. That is where his heart is. Mark Miller, the lead singer of Sawyer Brown, and Steven Curtis Chapman played a pivotal role in bringing Casting Crowns into the public eye. An excerpt from the above biography:

....Miller knew it was time to go out and recruit what would become the imprint's flagship artist. "I called Mark back," Miller says, "and his response was exactly what you'd want to hear. Rather than saying 'When do we leave?' or 'How much money am I going to get?" it was 'Am I still going to be able to be a youth minister?" "My response was something like, 'Sure, Mark, but your congregation may be a whole lot larger than you would have ever imagined.'"

And indeed it is! And the lyrics and message they spread far and wide does not just touch the hearts of youth...but spans the gaps between people of all ages.

On one of the videos I saw on You Tube...can't remember which one....Mark said this:

You can say what you think...but you will live what you believe....Casting Crowns

Isn't that the truth. It reminds me of another quote from a bygone era that I ran across the other day in my internet meanderings.

What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

It seems "Lifesongs" involve more than just "lip service" and correct theology. It is a "put your money where your mouth is, practice what you preach" way of living. It does not come about by sheer effort....but with a humble heart, guided by the christ within...and a sincere desire to be His hands and feet to a world in need.

My friend Martha posted this on Emerging Universalist last night.

To us - worship isn't going to church, singing good choruses, raising hands, holy dancing... it's what you do when you're flying down Rt 80 and you get cut off - it's what you do when some joker butts into line then argues with the cashier - what you do when your spouse acts like a jerk - what you do when your child puts herself in harms way again and again and again. You're sacrificing your will, your need to punch someone's lights out, the desire to say every bad word you know - the desire to run away and isolate yourself - and that's worship.

In ways both large and small...that is the lifesong we are called to sing.....

There's Something In My Eye.....

I was reading from A New Earth yesterday...in chapter 2 where Eckhart is talking about "The Ego's Need To Feel Superior" (pg 81-82) He said:

There are many subtle but easily overlooked forms of ego that you may observe in other people and, more important, in yourself.

Ah, yes....observing ego in other people...easier than identifying ego in ourselves, don't you think? Didn't Jesus address that when he cautioned:

And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?

Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

On a side note....when Emily was younger she would often forget to take a towel and washcloth into the bathroom when she took a shower. (she still does occasionally) Without fail, she would get shampoo in her eyes...and begin to shriek ...a sound that must be akin to a wounded animal caught in a trap or something. "MY EYES!!!!! MY EYES." I would always go running....grabbing a washcloth on my way...sympathy pains from the memory of times I had inadvertently gotten shampoo in my own eyes speeding my quest to get to her. No doubt, shampoo in an eyeball really stings!!!

That little trip down memory lane reminds me of another "MY EYES!!! MY EYES!!!" story. It was after a middle school dance. I picked several of them up...dropped several of them off and was waiting outside the home of Emily's friend Samantha. We stopped there so she could pick up her stuff to spend the night at our house. Emily was in the second seat in the van....messing around with the "glow bracelet" she purchased at the dance. Twirling it, bending it. (Anybody know where I am going with this story?) All of a sudden she started screaming and I turned around and saw her face and shirt covered with the glow stuff from inside the bracelet. Most of it was in/on her eyes She was shrieking, "It's in my eyes, it's in my eyes!!!!! It was much worse than the shampoo in the eyes scream.

I left the van still running....in the middle of the street....drug her (still screaming) into Samantha's house....through the living room, into the kitchen and started to flush her eyes with the sprayer. She was still screaming and crying and squirming. Finally we got most of it out. Her eyes were still burning, watery and red an hour or so later. On the advice of her doctor.....we went to the ER. We spent the next several hours there getting her eye checked out, flushed out etc. She is no wimp when it comes to that stuff so I did not have to console her much. There was also no damage done to her eyes and they finally found out from the poison control hotline that the stuff in glow sticks is very similar to the dye used in certain medical procedures on the eye.

So anyway...back to the plank in the eye point of this post. Although the plank doesn't glow....and oftentimes doesn't sting...we are still called to identify those planks BEFORE we start nitpicking and trying to dig out those specks in the eyes of others. It is just that it is so much easier to see their splinters and specks.

One is Cursed, One is Blessed....

A while back, I read the following snippet on Oprah's website, on the A New Earth Message Board.

remember: the body, the inner body LOVES attention and so does the predatory needy mind. Starve the mind and enhance the inner body

This reminded me of a poem I associate with Ray Prinzing. I'm not sure if he was the original author or if he just repeated it. I can't even remember if I heard it on one of his taped sermons or if I read it somewhere in one of his many writings.

"Two natures beat within my chest, one is cursed, one is blessed, one I love, one I hate, the one I feed will dominate."

And I came across the following in my NLT New Believers Bible that I bought shortly after becoming a Christian. The quote stuck with me....although I have pretty much ditched most of the other theological commentary throughout the Bible. VERY Fundie stiff:

An American Indian elder described his own inner struggles this way: "Inside of me there two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time." When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, "The one I feed the most."

On a side note, a month or so ago, Keith and I watched a video sermon by Preston Eby. I find it ironic that the more I understand Eckhart's teachings, the more I appreciate what Eby has to say. Eby definitely puts a very Christian slant on things but there is so much similarity in what they teach. I think you could find many excerpts from both of their writings that match just about word for word, concept for concept. Eby talks Christianese...Eckhart speaks "new age", but the concepts are the same. Digressing again....I don't remember a lot of the details of what he said in the sermon but I did jot down on this draft post version, here in the queue that he talked a lot about mankind being lowered into this realm. Because of our lowering into the natural, we know how to be adam. We must learn by experience to unveil Christ. To "learn Christ." To be Christ.

Eby believes that we pre-existed with God before being lowered into this realm. (I think I do too) He mentioned a verse that had confused him somewhat because it seems to state the opposite. The verse was 1 Corinthians 15:46.

Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

Or as the Message succinctly expresses it:

Physical life comes first, then spiritual--

His conclusion...the verse, taken in context, is talking about this realm...this realm of "form" as Eckhart refers to it...and the timeline of events here in the physical realm. First the natural--creation is subjected to futility...the fall....the lowering of our spirits into these earthen vessels. THEN the spiritual. Makes sense to me.

And speaking of Preston Eby, I read a really good article of his last night, a new article called The Seed In Every Man. I am going to go back and reread it today because there are many verses of scripture that he makes note of that Biblically confirms this teaching....and fits very neatly alongside what Eckhart has to say. I also like to read this teaching from a Christian perspective. I'm not sure why the words of Eckhart (self described as "not a Christian") brought this to life for me....but as my friend, annie says, if God can speak through Balaam's ass there is no limit to the venues he can use to teach us. Let me be clear...I am not disparaging Eckhart with that remark...just pointing out that God uses whatever he chooses, whenever he chooses, however he chooses to teach us.....but we have to be willing to look outside the walls of the box we've put Him in.

In the Queue....

For the past week, "Write blog posts" has been on my day to day to do list.  Obviously, since my last post was August 17th, I did not cross that item off my list.  There have been a few "aha" moments and things that have piqued my curiosity that I thought might make a good blog post but I just have not gotten around to it.  I use Windows Live Writer to compose most of my posts.  It is a very good program and compatible with most of the blogging sites on the internet.  It makes it easy to keep track of previous posts and drafts...and I find it very helpful. 

But anyway, there are about a dozen posts in the drafts section.  In the "queue."  I am going to try to finish some of them and actually post them.  I am putting it on my to do list today!!!!  And so a disclaimer.  The subjects are varied and reflect interest piques from as far back as 12/1/07.  So this is not a series...for sure.  It will be random subjects reflecting the progression of my spiritual direction since the beginning of the year.  I've gotten a lot more "airy fairy" since then. Perhaps looking more at the big picture than the "don't sweat the small stuff" details. 

For instance, my studies of Girard, mimesis and mimetic rivalry were specific...but I see now that mimesis and mimetic rivalry are part of a bigger picture.  They are manifestations of the egoic mind...the carnal mind, the old man, the adamic man...however you want to refer to him/it.  A specific symptom of a larger disorder.  Not the disease itself.   I knew, even while studying Girard, that it was not the whole picture.  Actually, I wrote a post about it called Not The Whole Puzzle last May.  Keith pointed that out at the time, and I did not disagree with the opinion that Girard was just a piece of the puzzle.  If I recall correctly, he voiced the concern that Girard's work was not "spiritual"....and he's right, Girard picks apart a very widespread manifestation of the ego and shows us where it leads.  To envy, lust, jealousy, dishonesty, ill will, "me, me, it's all about me"...and finally to violence.  The Bible is the only sacred writing that progressively reveals mimesis, scapegoating and our need to sacrifice and clearly shows, in the crucifixion of Jesus, that it is NOT okay with God. 

I think it is particularly interesting that scapegoating does not work if the participants see it for what it is.  Tolle and teachers like him point out that the awareness of the ego....observing its little tricks and schemes...sound the death knell for it.  But I digress. 

I'm writing it on the To Do List today....we'll see if I get to cross it off or not....

College, Already???

How the hell could it be time for Matt to go to college!!!???  It doesn't seem that long ago I took him to his first day at Mother's Day Out...and sat in the coat room the whole time because he was nervous and I promised I would stay.  He ran out to me several times, to tell me what a good time he was having.  I didn't have to stay the next day....

I remember when we moved to Nashville...the year he started kindergarten.  We moved from Cleveland where school started after Labor Day.  School had already been in session in Nashville since about the tenth of August.  All the other kindergartners were accustomed to school.  Matt wasn't.  In spite of a really great teacher, Matt had some problems adjusting.  He would come into my bedroom early...4 am early....

Matt: I'm scared. 

Mom:  What are you scared of, Matt?

Matt:  I'm scared of the cafeteria.  (he drew the word cafeteria out ....long and mournful)

Mom:  Why are you scared of the cafeteria?

Matt:  I don't know......(tears followed)

To this day he can't tell me why he was afraid of the cafeteria.  He is now 6'3' and weighs 260ish.  He got over being afraid.  I remember when his voice changed....which tickled me to no end.  I remember when he was as tall as my shoulder...and now, my head is about as tall as his shoulder.

I think he will do fine at college.  He has been self sufficient for the longest time....spending weekends alone at his dad's house without ever any trouble serious enough to require a parent or the police.  He's never gotten a ticket...never wrecked his car other than the time he slid off the road into a snow drift....and sustained minor damage.  (although three times someone has wrecked into it....while it was parked) 

He has been a great kid.  An easy kid to raise.  There was a glitch with grades in his junior year....a glitch he learned a valuable lesson from.  Other than that glitch...and a few other minor things like stealing a toy gun from his grandmother's toy box...and breaking one of the wise men in my Precious Moment Nativity scene while winging a ball around the living room, the kid has given me no problems.  And I love him deeply.  I am not a clingy mom....and sometimes several days go by when he is at his dad's and I don't see him or talk to him.  But he is here...in Williamsport....just a few miles away....and I will miss that proximity.  I am excited for him as he takes the next step toward being all grown up....but I sure do miss that little boy with the crew cut.  I love you, Matt....

Stone your disobedient teenagers....

While I was researching heaven knows what on line, I came across an article written by William Einwechter an elder at Immanuel Free Reformed Church in Stevens, Pennsylvania.  He is the vice president of the Christian Reform Association which advocates "Explicitly Christian Politics." Their mission?

The mission of the National Reform Association is to maintain and promote in our national life the Christian principles of civil government.

And for twenty bucks you can get the book which explains in detail just what explicitly Christian politics entails.  Hint, hint...it is some pretty scary stuff....

Christians who are tired of the compromise of evangelicals in the political sphere will find this book to be a wonderful breath of fresh air. Here is a vision for politics that the faithful servant of our Lord Jesus Christ can get excited about. The days of retreat for Christians in the political sphere are about to end, and Explicitly Christian Politics points the way!

The article that caught my eye while surfing was entitled "Bible Requires Death By Stoning For Rebellious Teenagers Says PA Preacher"  and it was on a site called Positive Atheism.  

Einwechter says the death penalty should be applied to "a grown son (and by extension to a daughter as well) who, for whatever reason, has rebelled against the authority of his parents and will not profit from any of their discipline nor obey their voice in any thing."

Writes Einwechter, "[T]he execution of the rebel in view is just, merciful, and preventive. Just, in that the transgressor deserves to die; merciful, in that his quick death prevents the destruction of the family, society, and others; preventive, in that it strikes fear in the heart of other would-be rebels and restrains them from taking a similar ruinous course."

The Chalcedon Report is the leading publication of the "Christian Reconstructionist" movement, the most extreme contingent of the Religious Right. Reconstructionists reject democracy and believe Christians should take "dominion" over American society. Under their version of "biblical law," the death penalty would be required for over a dozen offenses, including adultery, homosexuality, witchcraft and spreading "false" religions.

I told you it was scary stuff. 

The original article was published in The Chalcedon Report and later reprinted in The Christian Statesman.  Einwechter is editor of the publication.  As if the first time around was not disturbing enough....like a bad horror flick, there was a sequel; Stoning Disobedient Children Revisited.  Don't expect a retraction.  It simply defends the first article....although he does clarify the method of execution he advocates, since his original article was misunderstood:

......state that I say the Bible requires "death by stoning for rebellious teenagers." As I have noted already, death only would be imposed in the most severe cases of rebellion. Furthermore, as one who holds to the "general equity" of the law, I do not believe that cultural items such as elders sitting in the gates as judges and stoning by the men of the city as the means of execution are essential elements that need to be reproduced today to have the justice of this law upheld. These are peripheral matters, and justice would be served by our courts using more modern methods of execution in those cases that might warrant death.

I've included lots of links within this post for anyone who might want to rubber neck a bit....like when passing an accident.  You don't want to look...but you do in spite of yourself.  And for those who might be interested in a hard copy....the following snippet can be found at the bottom of The Christian Statesman.   

A six month subscription to The Christian Statesman is FREE on request. Renewals are FREE on request.
POBox 8741-WP Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15221

Oh...and one more thing.  When I clicked on the link to read more of Pastor Einwechter's writings, there were no other articles....only a notice that explained the site had been hacked and links to 58 articles ended up at a site where everything was written in Turkish. 

The Telephone Game...

I recently joined a yahoo group which was formed around the teachings of Eckhart back when the Power of Now was in its hay day.  It is still active and discusses not only Eckhart Tolle but also similar teachings and teachers.  I like the group.  Recently someone compared the Bible to the telephone game.  You know where you have a line of people...you tell the first person in line a sentence and by the time it gets to the end of the line it has been distorted, added to and embellished.  So, he thought, was the case with scripture.  I wrote the following post in reply.

I am not your run of the mill Christian.  Nor do I have a run of the mill view of the Bible.  I don't think it is inerrant and in many places, I think it was written out of the egoic and not the spiritual nature of the authors.  The OT especially.  The sacrificial system....jihad....all of that.  But throughout there are snippets of enlightenment....which grow clearer and clearer until they finally reveal Jesus.  The Bible is the story of man trying to find God...and how he fumbles and messes up in the process....and totally misses him time and time again.  And isn't that sort of a corporate story of what we go through individually?  At least for most of us, spiritual awakening is a process.  Two steps forward, one step back. 

The Garden of Eden?  Eckhart uses that as a description of when the egoic nature took over and took precedence over our spiritual natures.  Pure genius in the Biblical description.  They ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil...rather than the tree of life.  God put adam to sleep.  It says nowhere in the text that he woke him up again.  I find layer upon layer of wisdom in scripture.  Bring in the meanings of some of the words in the original languages....search out the hidden meanings of methaphors, cliches, similes, hyperbole and there is so much meaning that can be mined out in a course the spirit designs for us personally....just us.  A private class.  When the student is ready, the teacher will appear kind of thing. 

Another interesting thing about the scriptures came to light when I studied some of Rene Girard's work.  He was a French anthropologist, who, while studying famous literature and trying to discern what makes some works endure forever and others fade away quickly came upon what he coined as mimesis and mimetic rivalry.  A nutshell version is difficult...and I won't attempt it but info abounds on the internet.  It deals with the ugly little secret of mankind's predisposition to scapegoating, their need to sacrifice to appease their angry deities...and how this is all born out of the turmoil that occurs because we "catch" our desires from each other, and then as we compete for things that are in limited supply (not just material things but also things like fame, respect etc.)  mimesis turns into mimetic rivalry....which turns into violence.  A scapegoat, a victim upon which to lay all the blame is the safety valve which releases some of the pent up steam...literally sacrificed in times past but more commonly in today's world by shunning...prejudice etc. 

As I said, it is hard to describe in the scope of this post, but I found it to be a fascinating manifestation of the ego.  The ego at it's trickiest....so subtle we don't even know it is happening.  What does this have to do with the Bible?  Girard studied many ancient religions and holy writings and literature and he came to the conclusion that the Bible was the only one that progressively revealed this secret mankind so wants to sweep under the rug and not see.  Which is how the ego survives afterall. 

Once we shine the light of awareness on it, it loses its power.  Since scapegoating is still so prevalent and destructive even now (think war in Iraq and groups of people who are ostracized and discriminated against, think unrest in Israel where the mimetic struggle for a tiny strip of land has gone on for so very long, think about the dog eat dog world of corporate life, the cliques that form in schools.)  I think it all ties in with what Eckhart says about making another our enemy...a trick of the ego to strengthen itself. 

This post is getting long....so I will wrap it up with one last point.  I read the following quote (paraphrased because I read it a long time ago) on a message board.  It has stuck with me. 

"You can read it (the Bible) in the King James Version, the NIV, the Concordant Literal, the original Greek  but unless you read it "in the spirit" you will never hear Abba speak."  (Abba is the name Jesus coined for God which is a very personal form of the word for Father....sort of like papa) 

So for me personally, how do I weed out the stuff in scripture that is a result of the telephone game?  I know when I hear "Abba" speak, because the spirit within me stirs and I have the inner knowing that what I am reading is truth.  Like a baby in the womb who kicks, I get a spiritual kick from the holy spirit within (who Jesus promised would lead us into all truth) and I know that it is for me.  I don't just get that kick when I read the Bible... I get that same stirring when I read Eckhart and other similar authors.  I don't think that the Bible is the only way to God....to enlightenment.  Nor do  I think it is the only place where God's message to the world....to mankind can be found.  However, I don't think it should be discounted to those of us who hear the voice of Presence, Awareness....the voice of our Father recorded in the pages of scripture.