becoming

「誰以為有誰偷走了他的教會，其實就是把基督的教會偷了，當作是自己私人的東西。」

羅牧的舊文，忽然想起，藉得再讀。

See if you can find something like this in today’s gospel tracts!

… So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign and has a right to do as He pleases with His own, and that He may not explain to you a thousand things which may puzzle your reason in His dealings with you. But if you absolutely give yourself to be His child, He will wrap you up in a jealous love and let other people say and do many things that you cannot.

Settle it forever; you are to deal directly with the Holy Spirit. He is to have the privilege of tying your tongue or chaining your hand or closing your eyes in ways that He does not seem to use with others. However, know this great secret of the Kingdom: When you are so completely possessed with the Living God that you are, in your secret heart, pleased and delighted over this peculiar, personal, private, jealous guardianship and management of the Holy Spirit over your life, you will have found the vestibule of heaven, the high calling of God.

Rev. G. D. Watson
1845-1924

Read it all here.

…慈悲之主歟，求主轉回我等，我等即歸向主；我等現今哀哭禁食，祈禱歸向主，求主悅納，因主是最慈悲之上帝，常時容忍，廣有慈悲，大施憐憫，我等應當受罰之時，主常寬宥，主發怒之時，仍存憐恤之心。求慈悲之主，憐恤我等，憐恤我等，使我等永不至於羞愧。主之慈悲無窮，求主應允我等之祈禱，大發慈悲，眷顧我等；此賴可讚美之聖子，我主耶穌基督之功勞祈求。阿們。

公禱書，頁120。

Yes, let’s make it looks like we are doing something about ACNA, by making sure nothing actually happens.

My next book-purchase is coming. Any recommendation from you this time? Read anything interesting lately?

Let me know.

Read an interesting post today about Theosis, and our fear of the concept and hesitation of using that word):

Why are so many Protestants afraid of theosis? This is the term, used primarily in the Eastern Christian tradition but now enjoying a revival more widely, for becoming “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter): becoming like God, a process that begins now and culminates in eschatological glory. Other terms for theosis are deification, divinization, and christification. We come to share in God’s life especially God’s holiness, and immortality. Some of us even argue that there is a spirituality of theosis in Paul…

Michael Gorman then listed 5 common objections with his response in each case. Read them here.

[link | HT: New Testament Perspectives]

Craig Blomberg on Pat Robertson’s recent comment on Haiti:

… One of the most discouraging things about high-profile individuals whose misguided views on disasters are widely cited is the scorn that skeptics and critics subsequently unleash with renewed vigor against Christians more generally. If one’s goal really is for the lost to repent, this kind of pontification after a disaster proves dramatically counterproductive.

What Robertson needs to do, according to Jesus—what we all need to do—is take personal stock of our own lives, not those of anyone else, and ask what we need to repent of. Are we taking for granted that we have tomorrow to make amends, when we really know we can’t know that for sure?

[link: Denver Seminary]

See also Donald Miller’s remarks.

The Golden Canon Leadership Book Awards

Two things in short supply for nearly every church leader—time and money. Unfortunately both are necessary if we hope to buy and read the numerous books intended to help us in our work. That is why Leadership created the Golden Canon, the ten books of 2009 most valuable for church leaders. The winners were selected by a diverse group of more than 100 pastors and leaders, including our contributing editors, who selected the best books in two categories: The Leader’s Outer Life, and The Leader’s Inner Life. We hope this list contributes to your development as a leader, and assists you in determining where to invest your finite hours and dollars.

The Leader’s Inner life
BEST OF THE BEST
Knowing Christ Today
Why we can trust spiritual knowledge
by Dallas Willard (HarperOne)

“Every leader from elder boards on down ought to be revolutionized by this book. Its correctives are timely, needed, and redemptive.” —Sarah Sumner

The Leader’s Outer life
BEST OF THE BEST
Deep Church
A third way beyond emerging and traditional
by Jim Belcher (IVP)

“Neither traditionalism nor emerging Christianity comes out unscathed. But Belcher’s analysis is fair and even. I hope all our future conversations about what divides us is done in the spirit of Deep Church, which reminds us at every turn what unites us: the gospel of Jesus Christ.” —Brandon O’Brien

Read the whole list here.

[link: leadershipjournal.net]