About Me
Enough about me. This is for [y]ou. More on Me Here e-mail me What should i Link to?
Archives
|
Saturday, October 08, 2005
An [o]ther(s) Orientation The short paragraph below comes from the May-June 2005 issue of Weavings: A Journal of the Christian Spiritual Life. I try to read this one regularly. I came across the quote while cleaning off my desk for the first time since May-June 2005. The article, "Becoming the Bride: Belonging to a Community of Two" was authored by Jan Richardson. I've been doing a lot of thinking about the metaphor of marriage for the entire Christian life. Though this one was written about man-woman marriage, read it in the light of the larger metaphor. "I have come to appreciate relationship as an ascetic practice. Our word "ascetic" comes from the Greek askein, which means to exercise or to work. Forms of ascetism are infinite, and for many the word tends to stir images of the more extreme exercises that we sometimes associate with earlier Christians: severe fasting, self-flagellation, hair shirts. Fundamentally, however, asceticism encompasses practices that take us outside our familiar terrain in order to draw us more deeply into God, and into whom God has created us to be: not for ourselves alone, but for the life of the world. Ascetic practice enables us to examine familiar habits, to question our accustomed ways of being and responding, and to stretch--to exercise ourselves, to develop muscles that enable us to move as the Spirit beckons us. This kind of practice challenges and prepares us to be mindful about the deaths to which God calls us and not simply let them capture us unawares. It trains our eyes to find the wellsprings in the landscape, to spot the manna that waits for us when the way is most difficult." These words have particular significance with respect to being "OTHERS ORIENTED" in light of the comment string from friends in the prior post. ![]() Labels: marriage posted by John David Walt | at 10/08/2005 05:06:00 PM![]() ![]()
|
Today... |
1 Comments:
seminary + marriage = overworked muscles
Post a Comment
<< Home