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speak friend and enter
понедельник, февраля 28, 2005
Community and A Full Heart
(excerpt fr "Everybody's Normal Till You Get to Know Them", John Ortberg, pp 41.
What does a full heart look like? Brennan Manning tells the story of a man named Ed Farrel, who traveled from his home in Detroit to spend a two-week vacation in Ireland to celebrate his uncle's eightieth birthday. When the great day dawned, Ed and his uncle rose early to greet the sun. They walked along the shores of Lake Killarney, loving the emerald green grass and crystal blue waters. For twenty minutes they watched the scene together in silence. Then the uncle began to do an unusual thing for an eighty-year-old man: He began to skip along the shore of the lake, smiling like a schoolboy in love. Ed was puffing hard as he tried to catch up to him.
"Uncle Seamus, you look very happy. Do you want to tell me why?"
"Yes," said the old man, tears running down his face. "You see, the Father is very fond of me. Ah, me Father is so very fond of me."
So it is in the Fellowship of the Trinity: "The Father is very fond of me." This is the fellowship into which we are invited - one that can make eighty-year-old hearts laugh and cry and dance for the sheer joy of being loved. We were not made for loneliness; we were made for this joy.
When Jesus prays for us to be invited into the divine circle, it is not a casual request. There is an enormous price to be paid for our admittance. The Son will go to the cross. The Father - who had known nothing from all eternity but perfect intimacy with his Son - will now see his Beloved suffer the anguish and alienation of sin. The Spirit will come to earth and allow himself to be quenched and grieved by human beings.
At enormous cost to every member of th Trinity, you and I have been welcomed to the eternal circle, to be held in the heart of the Father, Son, Spirit.
Therefore, to fail to prize community; to tolerate disunity with the people God loves - particularly disunity in the body of Christ; or to do things that could lead to disunity is utterly unthinkable.
To allow or contribute to disunity in this fellowship is to be fundamentally at odds with the purpose of God in human history. It may be common in our world, but it is not normal in God's eyes.
(excerpt fr "Everybody's Normal Till You Get to Know Them", John Ortberg, pp 41.
What does a full heart look like? Brennan Manning tells the story of a man named Ed Farrel, who traveled from his home in Detroit to spend a two-week vacation in Ireland to celebrate his uncle's eightieth birthday. When the great day dawned, Ed and his uncle rose early to greet the sun. They walked along the shores of Lake Killarney, loving the emerald green grass and crystal blue waters. For twenty minutes they watched the scene together in silence. Then the uncle began to do an unusual thing for an eighty-year-old man: He began to skip along the shore of the lake, smiling like a schoolboy in love. Ed was puffing hard as he tried to catch up to him.
"Uncle Seamus, you look very happy. Do you want to tell me why?"
"Yes," said the old man, tears running down his face. "You see, the Father is very fond of me. Ah, me Father is so very fond of me."
So it is in the Fellowship of the Trinity: "The Father is very fond of me." This is the fellowship into which we are invited - one that can make eighty-year-old hearts laugh and cry and dance for the sheer joy of being loved. We were not made for loneliness; we were made for this joy.
When Jesus prays for us to be invited into the divine circle, it is not a casual request. There is an enormous price to be paid for our admittance. The Son will go to the cross. The Father - who had known nothing from all eternity but perfect intimacy with his Son - will now see his Beloved suffer the anguish and alienation of sin. The Spirit will come to earth and allow himself to be quenched and grieved by human beings.
At enormous cost to every member of th Trinity, you and I have been welcomed to the eternal circle, to be held in the heart of the Father, Son, Spirit.
Therefore, to fail to prize community; to tolerate disunity with the people God loves - particularly disunity in the body of Christ; or to do things that could lead to disunity is utterly unthinkable.
To allow or contribute to disunity in this fellowship is to be fundamentally at odds with the purpose of God in human history. It may be common in our world, but it is not normal in God's eyes.
