Clarion: Journal of Spirituality and Justice

Clarion Book of the Month: Excerpts from The Recovery of Love by Jeff Imbach

The Recovery of Love: Four Contemporary Mystics Address our Contemporary Crisis of Intimacy
by Jeff Imbach (Fresh Wind Press, 2005).

from page 82-83

It was common in the Christian circles in which I grew up to reduce love to a discussion of the distinctions between the three greek words for love: agape (self-sacrifice), phileo (familial affection), and eros (passion). By dissecting the word into discrete categories it was possible to elimnate the dangerous and end up with an innocuous but religiously acceptable ideal of love. Seen this way, love became tame at best and hopelessley guilt-producing at worst.

 

Shades: Nuancing Listening Prayer by Agora

In July, 2006, four members of Agora, a newsgroup and think-tank based in Canada engaged in a discussion around the topic of hearing God’s voice. The trigger point was an article by John Blake in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution but the focus turned quickly to “listening prayer” as described in Brad Jersak’s book, Can You Hear Me? There was a sense of simultaneous resisting and appreciating that became very productive. The four voices involved are David Miller, Brad Jersak, Sean Davidson, and Glenn Runnalls.

John Donne on Mercy and Justice

"[I]n every work of God there is mercy and justice, so, as they presuppose one another. And as in his created Elements, so in these there is a condensing and rarifying, by which they become and grow into one another. For often that action which was principally intended for a work of Justice against one Malefactor, extends it self to an universall Mercy, by the Example. And the children of God know how to resolve and make liquid all his Actions. They can spie out and extract Balmes, and Oyles from his Vinegers; and supple, and cure with his corrosives. Be he what he will, they will make him most Mercifull, if Mercy be then wholsomest for them. . . . And in like manner out of his Mercies they can distil Justice, when presumption upon Mercy needs a corrective" (Essays in Divinity 62-63).

The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian McLaren

The Secret Message of Jesus: Uncovering the Truth the Could Change Everything
by Brian McLaren (Nelson, 2006)

Review by Kevin Miller

Just in time for the cinematic adaptation of The Da Vinci Code—Dan Brown’s scandalous, bestselling novel about the “secret history of Christ”—comes a new book by emerging church guru Brian D. McLaren that helps clarify why millions are intrigued by such unorthodox interpretations of Christ.   

Rather than attempt to refute The Da Vinci Code, however, McLaren argues that the popularity of Brown’s book and the “shared frustration with the status-quo, male-dominated, power-oriented,cover-up-prone organized Christian religion” it expresses should prompt some serious self-examination among believers.

The Myth of Proportionality by Brad Jersak

Just War Theory: “Just War” is a idea and tradition developed by philosophers (e.g. Aristotle and Cicero) and theologians (e.g. Augustine and Hugo Grotius) in an effort to establish a platform of ethics for war and peace. “Just War theory” seeks to define ethical parameters of justice in the context of war. I.e. the justice of resorting to war (jus ad bellum), just conduct during war (jus in bellum), and justice in the peace agreements which terminate a war (jus post bellum). 

"Honour" by Michelle Wiebe-Santschi

A while ago, I started getting frustrated with some of the things that I was hearing people saying about people with disabilities.  I didn’t like hearing people in my community referred to as “residents” or “the disabled”.  These are my friends.  These are my brothers and sisters.  I just wanted everyone to be equal, for each one of us to be given a fair chance, to be treated as worthy human beings.  I don’t like there being “us” versus “them.  …I vented to those around me and to the Lord.  He answered my questions with one word.  The word that God kept bringing to mind was “honour”…both as a verb and as a noun. So I started to think about what this word meant.  What does it mean to honour someone?  What does it mean to give someone honour? And what does it mean to take away somebody’s honour?

Excerpt: "WHEN THINGS FALL APART" by Pema Chodron

Pema Chodron, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times (Shambala Classics, 1997).

Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing.  We think that the point is to pass the test or to overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved.  They come together and they fall apart.  Then they come together again and fall apart again.  Its just like that.  The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen:  room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.

When we think that something is going to bring us pleasure, we don’t know what’s really going to happen.  When we think something is going to give us misery, we don’t know.  Letting there be room for not knowing is the most important thing of all.  We try to do what we think is going to help.  But we don’t know.  We never know if we’re going to fall flat or sit up tall.  When there’s disappointment, we don’t know if that’s the end of the story.  It may be just the beginning of a great adventure….

Paschal Sermon of St. John Chrysostom

This past Easter, by the Orthodox calendar, I attended my first Eastern Orthodox Midnight Mass. It was a splendid celebration, adorned with many candles, icons, robes and multi-lingual shouts of "He is risen / Truly He is risen." The fifty-some pages of liturgy and endless signs of the Cross eventually led us to an enormous ethnic supper at sometime after 3:30 a.m. I was honoured to be invited to the festival by the Archbishop Lazar Puhalo.

The high point for me was the following sermon, the Paschal homily of St. John Chrysostom (a fourth century church father)...

Andy's Letter by Wayne Northey

Andy’s Letter

An unpublished novel by me treats of violence and nonviolence as a major theme with hell a subtheme. It is entitled Chrysalis Crucible, and tells the story of a young evangelist’s coming of age on the short-term mission field in West Berlin. 

The following is an excerpt from Chapter 78.  Please also read “Violence and Nonviolence – (Parts I and II)”, and “Excerpts Re. Hell – Parts I and II”.

If you are interested in dialogue on this, please feel free to contact the web administrator with your e-mail address and comments. I will then respond to you at my discretion. Thanks.

Another Dire Prophecy Unheeded: Eisenhower's Farewell Address

My fellow Americans:

Three days from now, after half a century in the service of our country, I shall lay down the responsibilities of office as, in traditional and solemn ceremony, the authority of the Presidency is vested in my successor.

This evening I come to you with a message of leave-taking and farewell, and to share a few final thoughts with you, my countrymen.

Like every other citizen, I wish the new President, and all who will labor with him, Godspeed. I pray that the coming years will be blessed with peace and prosperity for all.

Our people expect their President and the Congress to find essential agreement on issues of great moment, the wise resolution of which will better shape the future of the Nation.