I love reading people's thoughts on spiritual matters that are fully grounded in their faith. You can tell by their writing when their faith has been confirmed in their lives by experience and not just taught to them by books and Sunday School teachers. I thank God that the denomination I adhere to is led by a man such as this. This letter was sent to all Salvationists (members of the Salvation Army Church) to be shared with those that might benefit. I have tried to describe real hope and trust in my own words and never come as close as he has to a "Real" definition. Enjoy! :-)
HOPE
Dear Fellow Salvationists,
I write in the Name of Jesus to greet and encourage you.
Here in London we are in the late weeks of the Autumn season, but the weather is unusually mild just now and we can venture out of doors, without the need for heavy clothing, to enjoy the falling leaves as the trees turn golden brown. The children walk and skip to school with a carpet of fallen leaves beneath their feet. As they kick happily at the gathered gold, a sudden gust of wind will propel the fallen foliage once again into the air. It is an enchanting season. In the southern hemisphere you are in Spring-time, with promise and hope bursting outward and upward from the earth to remind you of new life.
Like all Christian believers, Salvationists are a people of hope. In mentioning hope I do not mean that shallow, facile optimism that says, ‘Things will probably turn out alright in the end.’ Christian hope proclaims the certainty that in Christ Jesus all is well now, regardless of our outward circumstances, and that we have the gift of hope from God not only for this life but for all eternity too. In 1 Corinthians 15:19 we are reminded that we have hope in Christ not only for this earthly life. Were this untrue then we are to be pitied above all others.
Titus 3:7 describes true believers as ‘heirs having the hope of eternal life’. In this promise, and in many more found in Scripture, we sense the certainty of God’s provision and the sureness of His promises. He does not toy with us. He offers us the gift of hope. We are free to accept or to reject His offer. My heart is filled with praise to God for each one of you reading this who has gladly and wholeheartedly accepted the Heavenly Father’s infinitely gracious offer of hope – hope for today and for all our tomorrows.
Wednesday 8 December 2010
Tuesday 7 December 2010
My First Paper Since Back to School - YAY!!
So I've been meeting with a tutor since November. She's going to help me with accountability, productivity and processing concepts that are hard due to my learning disability and other stuff. Let me say she is ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC. Thank you Karen.
So we started by getting to know what terrifies me about school, my strengths, weaknesses, expected hurdles and complicators (things that will make seemingly easy tasks feel unsurmountable). First thing we identified as an issue was communicating thoughts and writing papers. I usually write via "free think" method. If I think it, it goes on the paper, never to be erased. I was taught outlines in school and could fill in the worksheets better than anyone in my class, but when it came to turning that idea into a rough draft, not so much. My brain got stuck. I figured I was doing something wrong, so as always with me, tossed the entire idea out. I get 70% and higher on most of my papers so who needed an outline?
Karen taught me how to put information into an outline and how to know if I was done researching. My first assignment was to write a 2 page paper on religion versus spirituality using the outline method. I got the entire thing filled out and THUMP! There's that stupid wall again. I was so frustrated.
So the nice thing about a tutor is "I got so frustrated I couldn't think" is actually an acceptable reason for your homework not being done. We talked through what stopped me from writing the paper and she gave me a whole bunch of things to do when I can't write. They all included writing things I was thinking down and NOT erasing them (she wanted to see my thought process). So I was determined to write my paper today. I sat down with my outline, added the extra research she asked for and tried to write. Strangely, I was right back in front of the wall I was fighting before.
Something Karen said in her tricks to get around it was if you write everything out and you still can't get it out, play to your strength. Draw or paint the frustration or the inspiration or whatever. Get something on something so you can move on. Started thinking about that and remembered an experiment I did with voice recognition software a while ago cause I noticed I can talk till I'm blue in the face (sometimes literally), but I despise writing. I turned on the software, grabbed my mic and started writing, er...talking. In 1 hour, I wrote the entire 2 page essay. I had no rabbit trails and I used pretty much everything from my outline. I was really proud of myself!!
I figured you guys might want to share so here it is. Enjoy!
The challenge was made to compare religion and spirituality or faith. First we have to define each then to discover how one relates to the other. My research has shown me that spirituality and faith are not synonyms, but in reality two ideas that coexist side by side and cannot be separated. Religion is the evidence of these two concepts and therefore also cannot be separated.
Spirituality is by definition “concern for that which is unseen and intangible as opposed to physical or mundane”. According to Miriam Webster, It is also “an appreciation for religious values”. Diving into scripture we find no references to the word in any translation. The word was first used in the 15th century to describe the clergy. Since then it has evolved to describe a person’s exploration of the supernatural. In the Christian context, spirituality is how we go about finding and connecting to our creator. Cultural historian and yogi William Irwin Thompson states “religion is not identical with spirituality rather religion is the form spirituality takes in civilization”. If exploration of the theological were an art form, spirituality would be the medium that is used. It is neither the inspiration (the impetus of an idea) nor the form (the final product). Spirituality would be that clay, paint, chalk, or charcoal. For some, spirituality takes on a charismatic form, for others a more liturgical form. No matter who the explorer is, spirituality is there in some way.
Using the example of theological exploration as an art form, religion is the form. It is what others see when they look at us. An onlooker may see a Christian knelt at the altar, the child singing Sunday school songs, or a person reading scripture. All are examples of religion, our faith in action. James 1:27 says “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” Dictionary.reference.com defines religion as “ritual observance of faith”. It is the actions involved with belief that set us apart from the unbelieving world, rituals we undertake as physical manifestations of our faith.
Many Christians, have been led on a study of faith in scripture. It has no doubt led them to Hebrews chapter 11 verse 11 which says, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see”. It has also been described as “belief and trust in and loyalty to God”. Faith is the inspiration in the art form. It is the impetus for everything else. Faith is the decision that god exists, regardless of proof, that inspires spirituality and the quest to find our creator, resulting in religious observance – outward evidence of our faith.
In sociological study, there are three categories to describe a given ideology. They are beliefs, values, and behaviors. Beliefs are the unchangeable unshakable things that we understand at the core of our being. They’re rarely influenced by what others may say. Values are the things that guide how we live our lives. Behaviors are affected by those beliefs and values and are the evidence of our ideological stand. Faith corresponds to the beliefs. It is those truths that we have accepted and integrated into our lives. Spirituality is the values. It is the important parts. They will shift and change as we mature and will take on a different look through the lives. Religion is the behaviors. It is the way we enact those beliefs and values. You cannot take away a person’s beliefs and still have a person. You cannot remove their values or you remove the compass by which they make the decisions. You cannot remove the behavior. They would become statues with no impetus and no medium. Thus religion spirituality and faith cannot exist independently. But coexist giving form and meaning to each other much like the triune God that created us.
So we started by getting to know what terrifies me about school, my strengths, weaknesses, expected hurdles and complicators (things that will make seemingly easy tasks feel unsurmountable). First thing we identified as an issue was communicating thoughts and writing papers. I usually write via "free think" method. If I think it, it goes on the paper, never to be erased. I was taught outlines in school and could fill in the worksheets better than anyone in my class, but when it came to turning that idea into a rough draft, not so much. My brain got stuck. I figured I was doing something wrong, so as always with me, tossed the entire idea out. I get 70% and higher on most of my papers so who needed an outline?
Karen taught me how to put information into an outline and how to know if I was done researching. My first assignment was to write a 2 page paper on religion versus spirituality using the outline method. I got the entire thing filled out and THUMP! There's that stupid wall again. I was so frustrated.
So the nice thing about a tutor is "I got so frustrated I couldn't think" is actually an acceptable reason for your homework not being done. We talked through what stopped me from writing the paper and she gave me a whole bunch of things to do when I can't write. They all included writing things I was thinking down and NOT erasing them (she wanted to see my thought process). So I was determined to write my paper today. I sat down with my outline, added the extra research she asked for and tried to write. Strangely, I was right back in front of the wall I was fighting before.
Something Karen said in her tricks to get around it was if you write everything out and you still can't get it out, play to your strength. Draw or paint the frustration or the inspiration or whatever. Get something on something so you can move on. Started thinking about that and remembered an experiment I did with voice recognition software a while ago cause I noticed I can talk till I'm blue in the face (sometimes literally), but I despise writing. I turned on the software, grabbed my mic and started writing, er...talking. In 1 hour, I wrote the entire 2 page essay. I had no rabbit trails and I used pretty much everything from my outline. I was really proud of myself!!
I figured you guys might want to share so here it is. Enjoy!
The challenge was made to compare religion and spirituality or faith. First we have to define each then to discover how one relates to the other. My research has shown me that spirituality and faith are not synonyms, but in reality two ideas that coexist side by side and cannot be separated. Religion is the evidence of these two concepts and therefore also cannot be separated.
Spirituality is by definition “concern for that which is unseen and intangible as opposed to physical or mundane”. According to Miriam Webster, It is also “an appreciation for religious values”. Diving into scripture we find no references to the word in any translation. The word was first used in the 15th century to describe the clergy. Since then it has evolved to describe a person’s exploration of the supernatural. In the Christian context, spirituality is how we go about finding and connecting to our creator. Cultural historian and yogi William Irwin Thompson states “religion is not identical with spirituality rather religion is the form spirituality takes in civilization”. If exploration of the theological were an art form, spirituality would be the medium that is used. It is neither the inspiration (the impetus of an idea) nor the form (the final product). Spirituality would be that clay, paint, chalk, or charcoal. For some, spirituality takes on a charismatic form, for others a more liturgical form. No matter who the explorer is, spirituality is there in some way.
Using the example of theological exploration as an art form, religion is the form. It is what others see when they look at us. An onlooker may see a Christian knelt at the altar, the child singing Sunday school songs, or a person reading scripture. All are examples of religion, our faith in action. James 1:27 says “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” Dictionary.reference.com defines religion as “ritual observance of faith”. It is the actions involved with belief that set us apart from the unbelieving world, rituals we undertake as physical manifestations of our faith.
Many Christians, have been led on a study of faith in scripture. It has no doubt led them to Hebrews chapter 11 verse 11 which says, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see”. It has also been described as “belief and trust in and loyalty to God”. Faith is the inspiration in the art form. It is the impetus for everything else. Faith is the decision that god exists, regardless of proof, that inspires spirituality and the quest to find our creator, resulting in religious observance – outward evidence of our faith.
In sociological study, there are three categories to describe a given ideology. They are beliefs, values, and behaviors. Beliefs are the unchangeable unshakable things that we understand at the core of our being. They’re rarely influenced by what others may say. Values are the things that guide how we live our lives. Behaviors are affected by those beliefs and values and are the evidence of our ideological stand. Faith corresponds to the beliefs. It is those truths that we have accepted and integrated into our lives. Spirituality is the values. It is the important parts. They will shift and change as we mature and will take on a different look through the lives. Religion is the behaviors. It is the way we enact those beliefs and values. You cannot take away a person’s beliefs and still have a person. You cannot remove their values or you remove the compass by which they make the decisions. You cannot remove the behavior. They would become statues with no impetus and no medium. Thus religion spirituality and faith cannot exist independently. But coexist giving form and meaning to each other much like the triune God that created us.
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