Call of wisdom and Roosevelt

In Proverbs 9:1-6, Sophia calls to the passer-byers "You that are simple, turn in here!" At this point she invites these simple people into her house so that she might impart the wisdom of God to them.

When this text was read on Sunday for some reason I could not get that quote from Eleanor Roosevelt "Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people."

All I could picture was Sophia calling out to all of us in America who talk more about American Idol than American policy, "You that are simple, turn in here! Turn in here and I can help you move your simple mind, clamoring about people and events, to a great mind."

Perhaps this is why Jesus spent so much time in parable teaching. It allows us simple minded people to hear about people and events, but at the same time challenges us to talk about the ideas behind these people and events?

Perhaps Jesus spoke in parables, not to be cryptic, but to call us to expand our mind... to become Great.

Sayings of Abba Anthony

Reverned Nancy Allen shared a story on Sunday from Abba Anthony:

Three Fathers used to go and visit Blessed Anthony every year and two of them used to discuss their thoughts and the salvation of their souls with him, but the third always remained silent and did not ask him anything. After a long time, Abba Anthony said to him, 'You often come here to see me, but you never ask me anything,' and the other replied, 'It is enough for me to see you, Father.'

Here are some other stoires from Abba Anthony as well which I liked:

Abba Anthony said, "A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him saying, "You are mad, you are not like us."

Abba Anthony said, "I saw the snares that the enemy spreads out over the world and I said groaning, 'What can get through from such snares?" Then I heard a voice saying to me, "Humility.'"

A hunter in the desert saw Abba Anthony enjoying himself with the brethren and he was shocked. Wanting to show him that it was necessary sometimes to meet the needs of the brethren, the old man said to him, "Put an arrow in your bow and shoot it." So, he did. The old man said, "Shoot another," and he did so. Then the old man said, "Shoot yet again," and the hunter replied "If I bend my bow so much I will break it." Then the old man said to him, "It is the same with the work of God. If we stretch the brethren beyond measure they will soon break. Sometimes it is necessary to come down to meet their needs." When he heard these words the hunter was pierced by compunction and, greatly edified by the old man, he went away. As for the brethren, they went home strengthened.

One day some old men came to see Abba Anthony. In the midst of them was Abba Joseph. Wanting to test them, the old man suggested a text from the Scriptures, and, beginning with the youngest, he asked them what it meant. Each gave his opinion as he was able. But to each one the old man said, "You have not understood it." Last of all he said to Abba Joseph, "How would you explain this saying?" And he replied, "I do not know." Then Abba Anthony said, "Indeed, Abba Joseph has found the way, for he has said: 'I do not know."

Quotes I have carried with me for years...

Scripture says no one knows the Father but the Son. Therefore, if you want to know God, you must not only be like the Son, you must be the Son.
-Meister Eckhart

If you tell me Christian commitment is a kind of thing that has happened to you once and for all like some kind of spiritual plastic surgery, I say go to, go to, you’re either pulling the wool over your own eyes or trying to pull it over mine. Every morning you should wake up in your bed and ask yourself; “Can I believe it all again today?” No, better still, don’t ask till after you’ve read The New York Times, till after you’ve studied that daily record of the world’s brokenness and corruption, which should always stand side by side with your Bible. Then ask yourself if you can believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ again for that particular day. If your answer is always Yes, then you probably don’t know what believing means. At least five times out of ten the answer should be No because the No is as important as the Yes, maybe more so. The No is what proves you’re human in case you should ever doubt it. And then if some morning the answer happens to be really Yes, it should be a Yes that’s choked with confession and tears and great laughter.
-Frederick Buechner

I do admit that for Christians to enter this subject honestly is to invite great anxiety. It is to walk the razor's edge, to run the risk of cutting the final cord still binding many to the faith of their mothers and fathers. But the price for refusing to enter this consideration is for me even higher. The inability to question reveals that one has no confidence that one's belief system one's faith has already died. It one seeks to protect God from truth or new insights, then God has surely already died.
-John Shelby Spong

Culture Making, meet Gandhi...

Whenever I despair, I remember that the way of truth and love has always won. There may be tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they may seem invincible, but in the end, they always fail. Think of it: always
-Gandhi

In light of this quote I ran across a section in the book "Culture Making" which I though was stated very nicely.

Nothing that matters, no matter how sudden, does not have a long history and take part in a long future. And like earthquakes, revolutions are much better at destroying than building. There is an important asymmetry here, whose roots go all the way down to the laws of physics: It is possible to change things quickly for the worse. It only took two hours after the collision between a 767 and the South Tower of the World Trade Center to destroy it. But no one can build the World Trade Center in two hours. The only thing you can do with Rome in a day is burn it.
The Revolutionaries - and terrorists - of the world put their hope in cataclysmic events. But even they are likely to be disappointed by the long-term effects of their actions.
-Andy Crouch (Culture Making)

I am not sure what to make of all this but I really like these two quotes.