This poem is about the transfiguration by one of my favorite authors, Madeleine L’Engle,

(from The Irrational Season).

Suddenly they saw him the way he was,
the way he really was all the time,
although they had never seen it before –
the glory which blinds the everyday eye and so becomes invisible.
This is how he was:
radiant, brilliant, carrying joy like a flaming sun in his hands.

Notice how it changes here from the transfiguration to the incarnation. 

This is the way he was, is,
from the beginning and we cannot bear it.
So he manned himself, became manifest to us,
and there on the mountain they saw him,
really saw him, saw his light.
We all know that if we really see him we die.
But isn’t that what is required of us?
Then perhaps we will see each other too.

And then does a bit of Exodus on us too… before dropping it right back in my lap.

I think we’ve pretty well established at this point that I’m cheap.  So I was one of the few people who live in Southern California who wasn’t at the U2 Concert last night at the Rose Bowl.  But my small family sat squished together at the computer, watching enthralled as they sang their hearts out – live – on YouTube, and I read minute-by-minute updates from my eight Facebook friends who did go to the concert. 

And it struck me how small the world has become. 

And how some people (organizations?) like U2 have realized it.  They get they can stream their whole album on YouTube and I will buy the CD anyway.  They get that there is more to be gained from giving their concert away than clamping down on it.  And I hope they get that when I watch Bono sing “Magnificat” and know the whole world is also watching… know my friends are watching there while I watch here … that we are joined together.  And when a band is about justice and love, being joined together is an important message to send.

Some blessings this week are physical:

• Hot French fries and tangy Greek salad on date night
• Snuggling under a warm blanket on the first cold morning of Autumn
• Designing a training program that gets good results at week

Some blessings are natural:

• Watching a Cooper’s hawk float on an updraft as I bicycle home from work
• Watching the evening fog float in over the western hills, across a purple sky

Some blessings are relational:

• All family members tucked on the same sofa
• Making my mother laugh during an afternoon telephone call
• Choosing to invite an acquaintance to dessert and having them accept

And some are spiritual:

• Grace beyond law, given when a mother seeks baptism for her autistic son
• The beauty of virtue, when practiced to herald the kingdom of God
• Choosing to live a story rather than just live a life.

What are your blessings this week?

… if it’s a post about blog posts?

I was walking the dog tonight.

• Past the backyard of the guy who took two weeks to lay his own patio bricks.
• Past the upstairs window of the guy practicing the electric guitar
• Past the patio table of the woman that keeps the tablecloth out, because they have glorious family dinners every Sunday night

And it occurs to me that important things take a) work and b) actually starting.

You should see the stars tonight

How they shimmer, shine so bright

Against the black they look so white

Comin’ down from such a height

To reach me now, reach me now.

And how could such a king

Shine His light on me

And make everything beautiful?

‘Cause I got nothing of my own to give to you

But this light that shines on me shines on you

and makes everything beautiful, again.

It’ll be all right, it’ll be all right.

“Stars” by David Crowder Band.
Illustrated by God. Captured by the revamped Hubble Telescope.

I’ve mentioned before that I have a renewed interest in discipleship.  While waiting for a stack of books to arrive on the slow boat from Amazon, I picked up a short book by N.T. Wright from my bookshelf that I have not yet read.  It seemed appropriate, as it is called Following Jesus: Biblical Reflections on Discipleship.

  I enjoyed the book, but it isn’t about discipleship in any particular way that I can tell.  That is to say, the book is not so much how to encourage others to grow spiritually.  Instead, it is Wright’s guide to help the reader better understand Jesus and become more like Him.  In that context, I have no problem with the book and rather enjoyed the format.

The book is essentially a collection of Eucharist sermons.  The first six are each focused on a book of the Bible.  The second six are on more random topics: temptation, heaven, the God who raises the dead.  I particularly enjoyed the themes of the first half.  I’ve been on a bit of a Biblical Theology kick after a lifetime of not really getting the “big picture” of the Bible.  I really enjoyed how Wright sets out themes of Jesus and his character in the full books of Hebrews, Colossians, Matthew, Mark, John and Revelation.   For instance, here is the summary of the book of Hebrews:

So the book of Hebrews offers us, quite simply, Jesus.  It offers us the Jesus who is there to help because he’s one of us, and has trodden the path before us.  It offers us the Jesus who has inaugurated the new covenant, bringing to its fulfilment the age-old plan of God.  And it offers us, above all, Jesus the final sacrifice; the one who has done for us what we could not do for ourselves, who has lived our life and died our death, and now ever lives to make intercession for us.

The second half is still Wright, and I like his writing.  I like his example of how Naaman struggled to fully “become Christian,” but he was trying and that received Elijah’s blessing.  I like Wright’s explanation of heaven as not some “place” that exists above the stars, but the alternate reality that is beside us.  And there’s an excellent exploration of the power of Jesus as opposed to the power of the world.

So, if you are looking for a bit of help with the themes of these six books of the Bible, or are just looking for a series of short essays by Wright that focus on Jesus, this is an excellent book.

I have kind of a philosophical attitude towards people.  I find the realities of them to be difficult, and often feel different than those around me.  But the idea of people is fascinating.  Take this story I heard tonight on NPR.  An organization called Puppies Behind Bars places puppies with inmates in prisons in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York.  The inmates live full-time with the puppies and train them for a year to be either explosive-sniffing dogs or service dogs for wounded veterans.

There’s a blurb online about the show, but not the transcript.  You really need to take the 20 minutes and listen.  You meet Gloria who started the program, and the emotion in her voice when she describes the healing that the love from these dogs provides. You meet Nora who was incarcerated as an angry 17-year-old for armed robbery and now works for the program, crediting it with allowing her to bring redemption to her life.  You meet the soldier Paul, who was pulled out of his isolated PTSD and into the world by Samba, his black lab.

Not every story in this world is outwardly about God.  But I think it’s beautiful when I see the echoes of the world he created be redeemed from the mess we have made of it.  Especially when these echoes can be seen in lives that shows creation, fall, and redemption all.

Jason Gray is a singer and songwriter.  He has a new album out today, called “Everything Sad is Coming Untrue.” I wasn’t expecting anything in particular when I set it to play on Lala.com.  But the lyrics of the first song pulled me in, and a google search later I came across this great post by Gray about his journey in writing the title song.  Because, it turns out, he ended up writing it five different times. 

The title is a quote is from The Lord of the Rings, spoken by Samwise Gamgee after he wakes up from his ordeal with Frodo. Gandalf speaks to Sam, who has thought Gandalf dead.

    "Well, Master Samwise, how do you feel?"
    But Sam lay back, and stared with open mouth, and for a moment, between bewilderment and great joy, he could not answer. At last he gasped: "Gandalf! I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was dead myself. Is everything sad going to come untrue? What’s happened to the world?"
    "A great shadow has departed," said Gandalf, and then he laughed, and the sound was like music, or like water in a parched land; and as he listened the thought came to Sam that he had not heard laughter, the pure sound of merriment, for days without count. It fell upon his ears like the echo of all the joys he had ever known. 

Frankly, anything that uses The Lord of the Rings as its inspiration is going to be good.  But Gray is thoughtful about what this might mean, “everything sad coming untrue.”  It doesn’t mean that sad things don’t happen.  Or that, in the age to come, we won’t care that they happened.  It means that sad things DO happen in this broken world, but that, in God’s time and in his power, the evil that happens here is run backwards, and what was broken will be made right.  This happens to some extent in the partial kingdom now, and will happen fully at Jesus’ return. 

I like the idea that this one small phrase was so complex that it took Gray five songs to work it all out.  Only two made it onto the regular album – you need to buy the special edition to get the other three versions.  But you can read about the making of the songs, and listen to Part 1 and 2 on his post here.

From Everything Sad is Coming Untrue, Part 2:

Broken hearts are being unbroken
Bitter words are being unspoken
The curse undone, the veil is parted
The garden gate will be left unguarded

Could it be everything sad is coming untrue?
Oh I believe everything sad is coming untrue
In the hands of the One who makes all things new

Back in high school, I had to write an essay on “why God lets bad things happen to good people.” I remember that the “correct” answer was so that the good people could help when others go through struggles.  This seemed silly to me – if there weren’t any bad things to go through, then nobody would need help.

But sometimes I get glimpses of how that right answer is really deeper than that.  That the path of suffering can be a source of strength both in my life and in the life of others.  That has been brought home for me in the life of someone you’ve never heard of.  But I’d like to share his story because it has impacted me, and I hope that his suffering might strengthen you as well.

I found worship pastor C.J. Bergmen through NoiseTrade, an interesting service that allows you to support independent musicians by purchasing their music for whatever you are willing to pay.  I loved his music, and subscribed to his blog.  C.J. and his wife Reneè have had a year marked by suffering, but I want to honor their journey and continued dependence on God and His mercy.  It’s a little hard to figure out how to best share their story, but you can try the posts in this order.  And it isn’t the suffering I’m sharing, so much as their response to it. 

The story is because of suffering… but it isn’t about suffering.

1. The loss of their son right before his birth
2. The journey after the loss
3. The failed adoption
4. Today.

Go buy his album while you’re at it…

And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Romans 5

I have a college friend who has decided to foster/adopt a teenage boy, now that his kids are in college.  He sent me this link – the same week Michelle posted the preview for the movie of the same story.

Sometimes the sport isn’t about the sport. It’s about the lives changed around it.  It’s about every kid needing a family who believes in him.

I might even pay attention the next time the Baltimore Ravens are on TV.

The Book: The Blind Side, by Michael Lewis

The Movie (Nov. 2009)