HeightstoDepths

Here’s quote #2 from the bottom of my emails. It’s about faith and it’s from Augustine:

God is not a deceiver, that he should offer to support us,
and then, when we lean upon Him, should slip away from us.

Faith is a huge subject.

So all I will say is that this particular quote from Augustine reminds me of an image that I’ve heard to describe faith: it’s like the thing we do every time we sit down and put simple trust in a chair - especially when some of us lean back on a chair’s rear two legs.

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”-Hebrews 11:1

That definition of faith in Hebrews comes before a long example list of people who exercised it. These men leaned on God to provide for promises that he made; the “things hoped for” and “not seen”.

Back to the quote from Augustine; May I lean on God, the creator of everything, for everything. May I not lean on myself or any thing to provide me with joy, direction, or fulfillment. I lean on God alone. He is not a deceiver. I know that; “He who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.” -1 Thessalonians 5:24

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Hello.

Brian LaLonde here. I haven’t posted in a while since Laba has been keeping us in touch with Belfast. Thanks Brian! But now Laba’s back and I’m ready to start posting a few things.

This one kicks off what I hope to be a collection of inspiring quotes. I like to put a quote at the bottom of my emails. Usually I just stick them there, but now I’ll post them here, too, with a tiny explanation every time I change my email footer (bi-monthly?).

Here’s one by a guy named Charles Finney (1792-1872).

“If you have once known the blessedness of spiritual life, and your heart has been molded into the image of the heavenly, you can no longer return to the miserable flesh-pots of Egypt. There is no longer any possibility of your enjoying earthly things as the portion of your soul. Let that be considered settled. Abandon at once and forever all further thought of finding your joys in worldly, selfish indulgences.”

It comes from his sermon “On Self Denial“.

I like this quote right now because we’re just finishing the 50 days of Easter. For these 50 days, Christians are supposed to have been celebrating (one of the first things that comes to mind is “no fasting”). Sustained celebration for 50 days is tough! There’s a temptation to return to the “flesh-pots of Egypt”!

A particular focus for me has been just trying to live the new life I have in Christ. Instead of celebrating through letting go of all restraint, I’ve been trying to stay focused on the joy of resurrection life. This has been true as I try to serve in UCO and during our Gold Rush vacation.

Although I haven’t been perfect in doing this (imagine too many chocolate peanut butter eggs or falling back into gray patterns that I tried to shirk during Lent), it’s certainly easier when I remember, as Finney says, “the blessedness of spiritual life”.

Happy Pentecost! Come Holy Spirit!

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Here are some links to do some reading on Christian Unity. I prepared these for the Bodyslam Campus-Wide prayer meeting for the Christians at MSU.

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: January 18-25:

http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/faith/wop-index.html

http://www.vatican.va…week-prayer-2007_en.html

Evangelicals & Catholics Together - From the magazine “First Things”:

Evangelicals & Catholics Together Index:

http://www.firstthings.com/collections/coll-ECT.html

Evangelicals & Catholics Together:

The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium:

http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9405/articles/mission.html

Dialogue on Justification between The Lutheran World Federation (ELCA) and the Catholic Church:

Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification -

http://www.elca.org/ecumenical/ecumenicaldialogue/romancatholic/jddj/

Other:

Journey in Faith: Forty Years of Reformed-Catholic Dialogue: 1965-2005

http://www.usccb.org/seia/journey.shtml

US Conference of Catholic Bishops Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs list of Official Dialogues

http://www.usccb.org/seia/officialdialogues.shtml

Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/

Orthodox Christian Fellowship (on University campuses, supported by Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas, a nine-member council)

http://www.ocf.net/about.asp#SCOBA

Greek Orthodox “Ecumenical Issues”:

http://www.goarch.org/en/ourfaith/ecumenical/

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Brian LaLonde here… I’ll bet some of you didn’t know that I’m teaching this term? Yep, I have a class of college students going through “Christian Foundations 1 - Christian Maturity”. We’re having a good time at it - well, at least I’m having a good time challenging them to think.

Right now we’re studying Obstacles to our Walk as Disciples. In light of our studies, and in light of the time of year, I’d like to propose a question to these students:

Are these two articles compatible with each other on the question,
“Should Christians be watching horror movies?”

Commentaries: The Horrors! - on Christianity Today Movies www.christianitytoday.com/movies/commentaries/horrors.html

Halloween’s Occult Connection - An extensive study of the roots of Halloween. www.believersweb.org/view.cfm?ID=614

Each student should post some comment here:

1. to show that you read the articles
2. to participate in any discussion/debate with your classmates

Enjoy! and Happy Halloween!

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