Paul Long's Ramblings

Sent to me by a Jewish joke list. I found it very funny but also make me a little envious And then a little rebuked about my workaholic tendencies ...

Another insightful quote by Henri Nouwen ... We often confuse unconditional love with unconditional approval. God loves us without conditions but does not approve of every human behavior. God doesn't approve of betrayal, violence, hatred, suspicion, and all other expressions of evil, because they all contradict the love God wants to instill in the human heart. Evil is the absence of God's love. Evil does not belong to God. God's unconditional love means that God continues to love us even when we say or think evil things. God continues to wait for us as a loving parent waits for the return of a lost child. It is important for us to hold on to the truth that God never gives up loving us even when God is saddened by what we do. That truth will help us to return to God's ever-present love. - Henri Nouwen

Of late my sleep has been restless so I often wake up tired. By afternoon (with or without lunch) I often find my eyes drooping and my head heavy, and it takes a lot of effort to focus. A few days ago, I got this an email and have extracted the following from the email According to a Greek legend, in ancient Athens a man noticed the great storyteller Aesop playing childish games with some little boys. He laughed and jeered at Aesop, asking him why he wasted his time in such frivolous activity.  Aesop responded by picking up a bow, loosening its string, and placing it on the ground. Then he said to the critical man, "Now, answer the riddle, if you can. Tell us what the unstrung bow implies." The man looked at it for several moments but had no idea what point Aesop was trying to make. The moralist explained, "If you keep a bow always bent, it will break eventually; but if you let it go slack, it will be more fit for use when ...

Another helpful reminder from Henri Nouwen. Ramblings below after his thoughts ... :-) Question from Above What are spiritual questions?  They are questions from above.  Most questions people ask of Jesus are questions from below, such as the question about which of  a woman's seven husbands she will be married to in the resurrection.   Jesus does not answer this question because it comes from a legalistic mind-set.  It is a question from below. Often Jesus  responds by changing this question.  In the case of the woman with seven husbands he says, "At the resurrection men and women do not marry - have you never read what God himself said to you:  'I am God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob?'  He is God not of the dead but of the living" (Matthew 22:23-30). We have to keep looking for the spiritual question if we want spiritual answers.    It has been a good couple of days of leave. Had fu...

Still slowly reading Eugene Peterson's "The Pastor: A Memoir" and after reading this chapter, I thought I should quickly reflect and ramble on it instead of procrastinating :-) So many sentences in this short chapter caught my eye and heart ... The first is the reason Peterson was teaching at St. Mary's Seminary while still busy as a pastor.   But the invitation to give courses at the Ecumenical Institute, as it turned out, was neither diversion nor detraction from my pastoral work. It contributed a kind of reinforcement, an enrichment. It gave me a supplementary congregation very different from the suburbanites I gathered for worship each week and with whom I lived as a companion. My classes were multiethnic, a gathering of people off the streets of Baltimore from missions, New Age cults, workers with the homeless, men and women who hadn't found their place, looking for a place. Some were Christians looking for guidance and stimulus in sharpening their witne...

Been a long time since I blogged. Just been too distracted and in a way unmotivated ... But anyway .... This first cartoon has been on my desktop for weeks. The church I serve as pastor has as part of its name "Community Church", and the community aspect is very important to me. A couple of random thoughts on the word community that has stuck in my mind over the last few years ... 1. A community leader once made a comment to me when I asked him about whether there were churches in the past involved in a local community trust (which I now belong to) He told me that in the past there were pastors who came on board but did not last long - his off the cuff remark was  "they were more interested in helping their own community." Ouch!  So how do Christians (or better still, should Christians) define the term "community"? Is it to be in terms of "Christians" who become part of a local church community? As in church members?  Then another communit...

Listening as Spiritual Hospitality   To listen is very hard, because it asks of us so much interior stability that we no longer need to prove ourselves by speeches, arguments, statements, or declarations.  True listeners no longer have an inner need to make their presence known.   They are free to receive, to welcome, to accept. Listening is much more than allowing another to talk while waiting for a chance to respond.  Listening is paying full attention to others and welcoming them into our very beings.  The beauty of listening is that, those who are listened to start feeling accepted, start taking their words more seriously and discovering their own true selves.  Listening is a form of spiritual hospitality by which you invite strangers to become friends, to get to know their inner selves more fully, and even to dare to be silent with you.

Creating Space for God   Discipline is the other side of discipleship. Discipleship without discipline is like waiting to run in the marathon without ever practicing. Discipline without discipleship is like always practicing for the marathon but never participating. It is important, however, to realize that discipline in the spiritual life is not the same as discipline in sports. Discipline in sports is the concentrated effort to master the body so that it can obey the mind better. Discipline in the spiritual life is the concentrated effort to create the space and time where God can become our master and where we can respond freely to God's guidance. Thus, discipline is the creation of boundaries that keep time and space open for God. Solitude requires discipline, worship requires discipline, caring for others requires discipline. They all ask us to set apart a time and a place where God's gracious presence can be acknowledged and responded to.

What Is Most Personal Is Most Universal We like to make a distinction between our private and public lives and say, "Whatever I do in my private life is nobody else's business." But anyone trying to live a spiritual life will soon discover that the most personal is the most universal, the most hidden is the most public, and the most solitary is the most communal. What we live in the most intimate places of our beings is not just for us but for all people. That is why our inner lives are lives for others. That is why our solitude is a gift to our community, and that is why our most secret thoughts affect our common life. Jesus says, "No one lights a lamp to put it under a tub; they put it on the lamp-stand where it shines for everyone in the house" (Matthew 5:14-15). The most inner light is a light for the world. Let's not have "double lives"; let us allow what we live in private to be known in public.

I like this very much .... Dying Well We will all die one day. That is one of the few things we can be sure of. But will we die well? That is less certain. Dying well means dying for others, making our lives fruitful for those we leave behind. The big question, therefore, is not "What can I still do in the years I have left to live?" but "How can I prepare myself for my death so that my life can continue to bear fruit in the generations that will follow me?" Jesus died well because through dying he sent his Spirit of Love to his friends, who with that Holy Spirit could live better lives. Can we also send the Spirit of Love to our friends when we leave them? Or are we too worried about what we can still  do ? Dying can become our greatest gift if we prepare ourselves to die well.

"Intently haphazard". (Part II subtitle - page 25) I really like this phrase! "Something like that is the way pastor f eels to me. Pastor: not something added on to or imposed on who I am; it was there all along. But it was not linear - no straight line development. Seemingly unconnected, haphazard events and people turned out to be organic to who I am. In retrospect, intent comes as no surprise." (p.25) I am not sure I like getting older. Have too many little physical ailments that slow me down. Trying to reduce my growing pot belly the last few days with sit ups resulted in fresh blood in my stool (again!). Every time I try to go for a walk where the ground is uneven and requires climbing up and down, my knees kind of lock up and I have joint pains. Now it seems I have early degeneration of my cervical spine. *sigh* Of course I still intend to do sit ups and walks (but less ambitious in the sit ups department and walking on gentler even slopes. Life does go...

It is interesting to me that for Peterson (at least in his younger days), felt that seminary professors were clearly regarded as top of the church hierarchy. Pastors to him were "shadowy, undefined figures in the background" (p.21). He of course changed his mind rather quickly saying he found himself (it was a surprise to him) preferring the four days he spent in the congregation to the two days he spent teaching in the classroom. I have been told and I do agree that one of my gifts is that of teaching. And I have been asked many times of whether I should seriously consider going for  further studies and one day teaching at a seminary. I love teaching. I love to try and create order and practical application from the Bible. I love to show that the Bible is immensely relevant and practical. BUT I have long come to the conclusion that academia is not for me. I don;t have the discipline required. Neither do I have the intellect required.  Never much of a struggle there. But i...

Some Ramblings and Reflections on The Pastor: A Memoir” by Eugene Peterson (Part one) I am really enjoying this book. It really “resonates” with my soul. (I like that word “resonate” J ) I am only half way thought it but thought that I should jot down some of my thoughts, as I think it will help clarify my many stray thoughts. And my thanks to Alex Tang for sending me this book! The foremost thing that really stands out for me is the realization (or reminder) that a pastor is not both “born and made” (as in the phrase “ ______ is born and not made”). It is “both / and”, and not “either / or”. But “made” is probably not the best word to use … “formed” would be a better choice. I found it interesting that from the very beginning of reading the book, I found myself thinking (almost in parallel) about my own stories that shaped my identity and calling.  That’s another key word that kept popping up – stories, more specifically “my life stories”.   It is very clear to me that...

A helpful piece from Sojourners. I think it is hopeful and I like the way she ends her piece ... "... may we honor the Go-Between God by creating a safe space for all people to join the Great Conversation". An Invitation to The Great Conversation In 1943, in the throes of World War II and one of the most fraught times in contemporary human history, the psychologist Abraham Maslow published a paper explaining, as he understood them, the five basic, motivating needs common to all of humankind. They are: Physiological  (air, food, water, sleep, etc.) Safety Love/Belonging Esteem (confidence, achievement, respect of others and respect by others) Self-actualization (morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, lack of prejudice, and acceptance of facts) While Maslow’s theories are humanistic, they have a connection to religion and spiritual life in what he called “peak experiences,” and what the religious world might call epiphanies — moments of clarit...

Active Waiting Waiting is essential to the spiritual life.  But waiting as a disciple of Jesus is not an empty waiting.  It is a waiting with a promise in our hearts that makes already present what we are waiting for.  We wait during Advent for the birth of Jesus.  We wait after Easter for the coming of the Spirit, and after the ascension of Jesus we wait for his coming again in glory.  We are always waiting, but it is a waiting in the conviction that we have already seen God's footsteps. Waiting for God is an active, alert - yes, joyful - waiting.  As we wait we remember him for whom we are waiting, and as we remember him we create a community ready to welcome him when he comes.

You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the play and the opera, And grace before the concert and the pantomime, And grace before I open a book, And grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing; And grace before I dip the pen in the ink. - G.K. Chesterton Thank you for this!! :-)

I admit I am tired. I feel stressed out more often. While stress should be expected in any job (or life for that matter) and I do think some stress is actually good to keep me focused ...  but it bothers me a bit that now when there is a lull in activities and pressing deadlines, I still feel stressed out. But what is good is to have a bit more time to think and pray about such matters. Some of the stress is from my personal life (no surprise there) but more seems to be related to things like ... identity, job, calling etc. Last month I rambled a bit on the question of church growth and leadership and what it means (or should mean) to be a pastor. The link is HERE . I think one problem is clearly that I am unconsciously trying to wrongly emulate the apostle Paul! :-) i.e..   2 Corinthians 11:28  ... Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches . It is wonderful to begin reading  Eugene Peterson's  The Pastor...

From Mike's Funnies ... I'M STILL CARRYING THE PIZZA By Saralee Perel Last week at the supermarket, a young gal named Tara who was bagging my groceries said, "Can I help take these to your car?" As always, for the eight years since my spinal cord injury I said, "No thanks." But that particular day, I was in trouble. I had overdone exercise the day before. Hence, I couldn't lift my feet to walk and had to shuffle instead. Tara could tell I was hurting. "Let me just help," she said sweetly. When I finally said, "I'd love your help," I should have felt a great sense of liberation because it was the very first time I had agreed to someone helping me in all of these years. Instead, I felt like a failure. On our way to my truck, Tara and I became friends. But at my truck, 19-year-old Tara became my teacher. When I eventually agreed to her suggestion to sit in the front seat while she loaded the groceries, I put my head in my hands and...

Thanks brother Nouwen ... for writing and saying things that leaders find it hard to say but which needs to be said :-) The Poverty of Our Leaders   There is a tendency to think about poverty, suffering, and pain as realities that happen primarily or even exclusively at the bottom of our Church.  We seldom think of our leaders as poor.  Still, there is great poverty, deep loneliness, painful isolation, real depression, and much emotional suffering at the top of our Church. We need the courage to acknowledge the suffering of the leaders of our Church - its ministers, priests, bishops, and popes - and include them in this fellowship of the weak.  When we are not distracted by the power, wealth, and success of those who offer leadership, we will soon discover their powerlessness, poverty, and failures and feel free to reach out to them with the same compassion we want to give to those at the bottom.  In God's eyes there is no distance between bottom and top....

This video speaks heaps. An important lesson for individuals, corporations, governments, politicians and yes, pastors too:-)