John of the Cross - a master of the mystical tradition

 Picture at left is from here

To-day is the Day of Remembrance of John of the Cross - the writer of the mystical classics, The Dark Night of the Soul and The Living Flame of Love and more.

For those who would wish to read the works of John of the Cross, please be introduced to a marvellous website for reading - for free - the riches of the Christian tradition, the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.  This site is a storehouse of great treasures available to all.  For the works of John of the Cross, please go here.

A quote for to-day from The Living Flame of Love:

... He loves thee with liberality, without self-interest, only to do thee good, showing joyfully His countenance full of grace, and saying: 

I am thine and for thee, and it is my pleasure to be what I am, that I may give Myself to thee and be thine.  

Who then  shall describe thy feeling, of blessed soul, when thus beloved, and so highly honoured?

Picking and choosing and not prioritising Syrian refugees

 Are rich developed nations being too picky? 

In the USA there are those who don't want ANY Syrian refugees.

Here in Australia we have some who want to priotise Christians.

There are those who say that Christians should not be prioritised.

Can't we just say that we will prioritise according to 

need and urgency?

And here is a comment upon the irrationality of the American decision:

Something Christian Millennials “Don’t get”

I should probably be working on one of my three term papers right now, but something is on my mind. Also, this one is just for the Christians. If you’re not a Christian, go ahead and read it, but it’s not really directed at you.

As I am writing this, 17 state governors have declared that they will not accept any Syrian refugees. I’ve seen a lot of praise over this, largely coming from Christians.

I understand the fear. Really, I do. It is, I admit, quite plausible, as we have seen from Paris, that ISIS operatives can and will sneak in with the hundreds of thousands of people fleeing from certain death or worse. However, there is a holocaust going on, and speaking for myself and I am sure many others, we cannot understand the coldness toward refugees coming from other Christians. If you will please stick with me for a few paragraphs, I will explain why we just don’t “get it.”

I was raised in a small-town Baptist church. I was taken there Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday nights. I don’t care how much you like to goof off, if you spend that much time in a church, you’re going to pick up on major themes whether you want to or not.

One of those major themes is that we should be courageous. Another is that we should love our neighbors as ourselves. Another is that life is eternal.

These themes are all over the Bible. “Be strong and courageous,” God told Joshua. “Perhaps you are here for such a time as this,” Esther’s uncle said. “Do not fear those who can kill the body,” Jesus said. Jesus also told a story that would be, on the danger scale, the equivalent of a Native American carrying a bloodied and beaten white man into an Old West town saloon for help in the pioneer days. (The Good Samaritan)

And the stories didn’t just include Bible stories. Just about every evangelical (especially Baptists) know and praise the Jim Elliots of the world and their wives. If you don’t know, Jim Elliot was a missionary to somewhere in the Amazon. He and several others were killed by the natives. Later, their wives evangelized the same people who killed their husbands!

We were taught to admire people like that. The idea that nothing, and I mean absolutely NOTHING in this world is more important than expanding the Kingdom of God — not even my own life — has been drilled into me since I was a small child. And, you know what? I believe it’s the truth still!

Am I not supposed to actually believe all that stuff?  I find myself today witnessing some Christians who seem to want to be as not like Jim Elliot as possible. I do not understand this. This is what I do not “get.”

For years and years and years it has been nearly impossible to get missionaries (even sneakily) into parts of the Middle East. It’s so dangerous, some, assuming they can even get in, are likely to be killed so quickly they can’t do much evangelizing. And now, hundreds of thousands of beaten, hurting, orphaned, widowed (google “pure and undefiled religion") and broken people are trying to come to US.

Is it possible that a small percentage of them want to kill us? — Let me counter that question with another question:

Does it matter? 

Maybe it’s because I grew up in a post Columbine, post 9/11 world that we youngsters think this way, but refugees or no refugees, some folk are getting murdered in the United States today. Refugees or no refugees, there will be another school shooting somewhere. Refugees or no refugees, terrorists will find a way. Life is terminal. You WILL die.

I find it astonishing that many people want America to be recognized as a Christian nation. God forbid!

“Dear Syrian refugees,

We, the Christian nation of America, do not want you. There are some bad eggs mixed in with y’all. We’ve seen the photo of the little boy who washed up on shore. We’ve heard from Christine Caine and the A21 people who talk about how desperate the situation is. But we also have some news sources that told us that it’s all men and the women and children aren’t even there! Whew! You almost had us fooled! Have a nice life in that land of opportunity you just floated to, the bankrupt and socially troubled country of Greece. We’ll send some food over for a while. Please, steer clear of the human traffickers and report all suspicious activity to the police.

God Bless.”

Maybe I’m just wound up. I suppose it’s possible to be too wound up or emotionally stirred at something like this. But if you want to curb my youthful enthusiasm, here’s all you need to do:

Open up a Bible and make a convincing argument that Jesus wants us all to be safe more than he wants us to reach the lost and help the hurting. I was taught, after all, that Jesus trumps all — even those teaching me that Jesus trumps all. Am I supposed to believe that or not?

It’s not like I’m declaring all of us must quit our jobs and go. But not only will we not go, we don’t even want them to come to us? I am genuinely confused. Somebody help me out here.

Why should Christians think that, as one group in the whole of creation, they are special?

"The equation of 'Judeo-Christian' with 'Western' and 'democratic' is an ideological construction, not a historical one.
Posted by Unfundamentalist Christians on Friday, 20 November 2015

Why should Christians help refugees? Seek the answers below.

Click on the heading below the picture to see the seven verses

7 Bible Verses That Tell Christians to Help Refugees

What would Jesus do? Help Syrian refugees.

USUNCUT.COM

Getting it right at Sydney's Wayside Chapel

From here

 

Dear Inner Circle,

Dame Marie Bashir was in our lift yesterday and I saw her put her arms around an aboriginal woman. She said, “Every time I see an aboriginal sister, I just want to say, ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Dame Marie was here for our celebrations to mark NAIDOC Week. There were few happier places on earth than Wayside yesterday. We were able to peer into a future Australia that will enter into it’s own maturity because it knows that to love the land means to love the people of the land.

A homeless woman rushed through our front door the other day to say that someone had set fire to another homeless person’s mattress. There is a mattress set up near the theatre right behind us. We were about to rush to the fire and the lady said, “Don’t rush, I put the fire out.” She went on to explain that she’d poured all of her wine over the fire. I’m not sure if she was expecting we’d replace her supply of plonk or perhaps nominate her for an Order of Australia.

A man with quite a sad face approached me this morning. I don’t think we’ve spoken before although I recognised him as someone who appears here from time to time. “I miss Gary” he said. “Gosh, so do I” I replied. It’s been over a year since Gary, one of our much-loved visitors had a massive stroke on the footpath and died. He spoke for a while about how Gary taught him what friendship was. When he was first homeless and sleeping in a park, if Gary had a sandwich, he’d share half with his mate. Gary would choose to sleep in the more exposed spot, offering his mate some sense of protection from danger. He gave me half a dozen examples of the wisdom of Gary. Many of you would have heard me tell a story of a shabby bloke who confronted me one day when I was in a hurry to leave. It was some months after my son had died and I was coping even if I was flying on auto pilot. Gary blocked my way in the front door and I couldn’t get past this shabby man with the goofy look on his face. Eventually he put his arms around me and kissed my cheek and whispered, “That was from your son”. That was Gary and we became close friends and I miss him too.

Another homeless fellow told me that he’d like to buy a farm and help people get off drugs. “I’ve got a couple of million in the bank but it wouldn’t be enough for a farm,” he said. My first reaction was to point out that if he had a million dollars, he could probably afford some warm clothes and a roof over his head. I was quickly reminded of a job I had in ancient times in a boys reformatory. Every little kid had a story of rich parents or a rich uncle whose wealth was beyond calculation. Every little boy had a story about how their rich relative would appear one day soon and all would be revealed. Likewise it’s not uncommon for homeless people to tell me that they’ve got a winning lottery ticket or that they are due to inherit riches. I suspect there is a longing in all of us that intuits worth for which there is no evidence. I suspect it is not an unhealthy response but rather a crude and clumsy attempt to reach for the worth that is given by virtue of being alive and part of society.

Dame Marie said while we were lining up for food yesterday, “I reckon Jesus must peer down from heaven, look at Wayside and say, ‘Thank goodness someone is getting it right.’” It is any wonder that we love that woman so much? Full honour to Monique, Will, Ma’Ata and Annelise in our Aboriginal Project, our volunteers and everyone else who made our NAIDOC Week such a fabulous success.

Thanks for being part of our inner circle,

Graham

Rev Graham Long AM

Pastor and CEO

The Wayside Chapel

Kings Cross

http://www.revgrahamlong.com/

http://www.thewaysidechapel.com/

Tim Costello: a disciple on discipleship

The suffering of ancient Christian communities; those who have Ebola; economic poverty; floods of refugees & displaced people; failure of many nations to see the common good ...

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby

Official website of the Archbishop of Canterbury

From Lambeth Palace:

'Then Herod sent the wise men to Bethlehem saying, 
Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, 
bring me word so I may also go and pay him homage.’ (Matthew 2.8) 

 

The deceit and cruelty of governments and rulers has not changed in the 2000 years since King Herod. 2014 has been a year of desperate suffering for many Christians, unparalleled for centuries. Christian communities have been uprooted from the places that they have dwelt since within living memory of the time of Jesus. Along with them, others have been harried and hunted, blown up, tortured, beheaded, raped and have seen their families, their livelihoods, their futures destroyed. Indeed, the cry of the martyrs rises across the earth, ‘How long, oh Lord, how long?’

At the same time we have seen the scourge of Ebola sweep across three countries of West Africa, striking people down above all when they exhibit their deep compassion for the human dignity of others through touching and holding them, or through washing their bodies after death. The acts of love have become the means of infection and death.

In other places, immense economic poverty continues to spoil the lives and diminish the dignity of human beings. In Europe, migration across the Mediterranean has reached extraordinary levels, and the countries of Europe have ceased to see the common good as obliging them to support each other in loving and receiving those who have fled through such horrors, such dangers, and such privations. Rightly, Pope Francis has said that the Mediterranean must not become a vast cemetery. Individualism and selfishness is causing countries to withdraw into themselves and look only after their own interests.

 To read more of the Archbishop's Ecumenical Christmas Greeting please go here.