hear ye, HEAR YE!

the easter affirmation, to be read in progressively louder tone as font size increases.

one cannot help thinking that the triumphant proclamation upon which the christian faith is built deserves more considered and innovative treatment than that of decibels alone.

easter morning thoughts

there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel's veins

and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

e'er since by faith i saw the stream thy flowing wounds supply

redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till i die.

- william cowper

the cross and the resurrection redeem me from more than i care to consider

and make me worthy of more than i will ever grasp.

thank God.

good friday

a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief...

i make a startling realization in the wake of the familiar words. when i say God, this is my heavy heart and the bitterness of my spirit; what can you do to sweeten it? really he is telling me child, i know your sorrow and your grief. i drank the cup you could not drink.

he shares my burden.

surprised by joy - c.s.lewis (1955)

he calls it joy, this ephemeral longing that comes upon him and catches him unawares when he reads a passage of a book, or when he contemplates a scene, or when he remembers a memory. it is the pursuit of this, he believes, that leads him to God.

why does he call this joy, i wonder. when we usually think of joy as an uplifting of the spirit and countenance, why does he link it to this elusive feeling that needs to be described almost laboriously? i begin to realize that the opposite of joy is not, perhaps, sorrow, but longing. and if longing, then joy must be the fulfilment of that longing. there is a logic to this strange nomenclature.

and i have felt that joy too. i have felt that unexpected burst that expands my soul and gives me, momentarily, a glimpse of something far bigger than i am, when i chance upon an empty road, or when the storm clouds come in their ominous glory, or when i hear danny boy, or i join in a chorus of how great thou art. so joy is my glimpse of the eternity that God puts in my heart, and i am the richer for having read about it.

the four loves - c.s.lewis (1960)

amazed delighted and blessed yet again by the man a shop-girl described to me once as a rather old writer, isn't he?

affection, he says, grows out of proximity. a common product, but not the only possible product. nor necessarily an enduring product. this brings me relief, for the many times my unredeemed affection would go no further, and could go no further. 

and affection corrupted becomes a most ugly perversion indeed, whether it be an inordinate need for, or an abnormal desire to give. i have seen both the passive aggressive neediness and the smothering distortion that yet bears the name of love.  

friendship, he says, is the most unobligated form of love. we love in friendship because we share common interests hopes or values, not because we are thrown together or because we admire each other. in the bible we have God the father and Christ the husband, but only Abraham is called God's friend. the love of friends is not a common descriptor of God's love. but oh! on earth the love of friends enriches me indeed.

charity is God's love. it is the form to which the human loves turn, in God's time and with his guidance. the charity of receiving in gratitude what we do not deserve and the charity of giving beyond what we are able come from our heavenly Father and only with his help. may i learn to love with charity.

i am amazed by his insights and delighted by his easy language. and sly humor.

sand in my shoe

here we are at nearly the end of the first month and here are the things that have been irritating me:

• people who talk at the top of their voices on their cellphones on the train
• people who talk to each other at the top of their voices on the train
• people who play music on their personal devices at maximum volume on the bus
• people who have a formal encounter with you and find it acceptable to suddenly fish out their water bottle for a swig
• gentlemen who run to risque in their taste for jokes and conversation

quite clearly the common theme is human.

good reads (and not)

two rip-roaring satisfyingly meaty jolly good reads. destiny is a sweeping tour of world history that incorporates the middle eastern moslem perspective. not your usual western media stuff or even the world history according to western writers stuff, so this is a fascinating account.

adds up is a whirlwind review of mathematics as i never knew it. and i studied math up to high school! and actually i passed college biostats! and right in the final chapter i discover a new thing - mandelbrot sets. it is delightful.

this one, though, is not quite my cuppa tea. i may like ideas but that socratic method is a tad slow for me. perhaps another day.