Incarnational Language

This morning, Kathleen Norris, the noted author and poet of Dakota, Amazing Grace, the Virgin of Bennington, and The Cloister Walk, gave a special faculty presentation on campus entitled "The Grace and Challenge of Incarnational Language." She made some interesting points about how most of the language we encounter is counter-incarnational, and made the plea for honesty in language.

The first thing that struck me was her appearance. Of course, that is
all one can notice until she opens her mouth. Nevertheless, the
change of appearance (from the Agent's promotional picture) was fitting for her plea for honest words. She contends that Incarnational language is not the language of marketing. It is not the language of the salesperson. Incarnational language is
language that tells it like it is - the good and the bad.

Tonight she will speak in Hart Auditorium, inspired by Merton's work.
The title, "To say you love God, is like saying 'Eat Your Wheaties.'"

Artists, writers, God-lovers, and curious hearts will undoubtedly
enjoy her words.

Pad Thai, Trina Style

Finally, what you’ve all been waiting for: the recipe for Pad Thai Noodles ala Katrina.

Yield: 5-7 normal servings or 3 hungry men servings
Number of hands needed: minimum 2, 4-6 ideal
Approx. time needed: 1 hour

Grocery list:
1 pkg rice stick (or rice pasta – linguine thickness, try Notta Pasta or thick Chao Ching)
1 7 oz. bottle Pad Thai sauce (I use Caravelle from Thailand, sold in HEB stores –less than $2)
1 pkg cello bean sprouts (or two man-sized handfuls)
6+ scallions
1 bunch fresh cilantro
4 limes
Choose a meat/wannabe meat (or a combo): chicken, shrimp, tofu (optional)
2 T peanut butter (optional)
1 c crushed peanuts or cashews (optional)

Boil rice stick until soft, approx. 5 min.  Drain and set aside.  Heat oil in pan on medium heat.  Add 1/2 bottle Pad Thai sauce to pan, followed by the softened rice stick and mix together.  Stir in cello bean sprouts.  Reduce heat and continue to stir noodles (otherwise they will become like a brick… house –yikes!)

In a separate pan, cook eggs on medium heat, stirring continually.  Mix the cooked eggs into the noodle mixture and add more sauce.  Melt the peanut butter on the side of the pan and stir.  On the side, cook the meat (optional) as follows:

For shrimp: devein, peel (all but tail), sprinkle w/ olive oil, season generously with salt and pepper, and broil for 3-4 minutes until opaque
For chicken: use 2 breasts, cube into 1/2” pieces and cook through until opaque
For tofu: grill and cube

Thinly slice scallions (or cut them into long cylinders - your choice), cut limes into wedges, de-stem the cilantro, and crush peanuts or cashews.
Add cooked meat, the remainder of the sauce, the scallions and the cilantro to noodle mixture.  Squirt with lime.  Serve with lime wedges, crushed nuts and cilantro.    Enjoy!

Yeah, yeah, right. Give up the dream, kid.

Acts 11 - The apostles and the brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God.  So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

Peter began and explained everything to them precisely as it had happened: “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision.  I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down where I was.  I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds of the air.  Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter.  Kill and eat.’  I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord!  Northing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’  The voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’  This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again.  Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying.  The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them.  These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house.  He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter.  He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.’  As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning.  Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’  So if God gave them this same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?”

When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles a changed heart unto life.”

I wish more Jesus following communities would welcome their brothers with this sort of concern, a dialogue, and praise.  We must learn to really listen to God for each other like these guys.

C'mon. You can quit it.

So often we focus on the fault.  Ultimately, the point is for change or life transformation.  We want the best.  We see a weed, and we want to pull it up…  Especially when this pertains to our Christian spiritual transformation (and the argument becomes weighty when every aspect of our lives relates our every thought and action to the spiritual responsibilities.) 

Why do we try so hard to change others?  It’s hard enough to change our self!

Why do we try to add to the weight of others? They cannot even handle what they’re carrying!

Mark 11 –

12 On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. 13 Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went {to see} if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 He said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again!" And His disciples were listening. 15 Then they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who were selling doves; 16 and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. 17 And He {began} to teach and say to them, "Is it not written, 'MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL THE NATIONS'? But you have made it a ROBBERS' DEN." 18 The chief priests and the scribes heard {this,} and {began} seeking how to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching. 19 When evening came, they would go out of the city. 20 As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots {up.} 21 Being reminded, Peter said to Him, "Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered." 22 And Jesus answered saying to them, "Have faith in God. 23 Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be {granted} him. 24 Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be {granted} you. 25  Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. 26 "But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions."

Forgiveness would be impossible without the junk.  Acknowledge and deal with the junk.  Faithfully Forgive, Forgive, Forgive.  Then God will heal, heal, heal.

Poster #2
the one that got away
ACU Lectureship Spring 2006

Poster #1
ACU February Lectureship 2006
I WAS BLIND NOW I SEE
Shore Art Gallery
Sunday evening, February 19
following the keynote

Critically Acclaimed

Isn’t that what we all want to be? The main confusion for man falls into the category of whose acclaim are we seeking.

Humans exert much energy in search of gaining the pleasing approval of others. But why settle for fast food, when you can eat a grand feast? Have you all ready sought the approval of the greatest Other? Put your feet up, for your heavenly father has all ready prepared a place for you at his table; he’s gone there to prepare a place for you. You’ve just got to call him to work out the reservation, right?

Does intimate community exist without critical acclaim? Tonight, Karen asked Mark and me what we see as ‘deep community.’ There are only two examples of this in my life that I have experienced for a period of two to four years each, and both are closer to deep community than any other church experience I’ve found.

The more recent of the two examples remains the Art department within ACU. God actively nurtured those relationships, and we didn’t always see it. We all had a load to carry, and we all needed each other to succeed. We all needed a second set of objective eyes to glance at our individual paintings. We all needed another’s studio spaces to go to for inspiration, relaxation, and collaboration. We watched each other fail miserably; we watched each other succeed and produce great works. We dedicated our time toward a common goal, and we dialogued about the journey. Constructive, honest criticism was present, confession and mystery dwelt simultaneously, and we expected each other to be fully present – and obviously so, since this circled around assessment ending in a degree.

The older example of deep community comes from my high school days, and I can safely attribute my initial conversion points to a group called “The Happening.” I was uniquely positioned to intersect with my peers in a setting where they were able to share their faith, and to this day, nothing compares to the massive impact of this influence on my faith. I have been looking for that strong influence ever since. Peers who I had sat with day in and day out in classes told me of the grace of Christ and his great gifts. They asked my parents and close friends to write me notes, and they each took the time to encourage me specifically. (This was especially powerful considering the persecution and hardship of my family’s situation.) They genuinely cared for my well-being, and they were deeply concerned about my faith and Christian spiritual transformation. I had this great cloud of witnesses around me for the final two years of high school. Ultimately, my choice to attend a Christian university was my minimum standard; I couldn’t lose my REAL family. I was desperate.

The Week in Quotables from Mark and friends

“So on Library Thing dot com, I’ve found someone who has thirty-one of the books I have. *insert boyish, expectant grin here*”
-Mark on Librarything.com

“What? How is a website going to tell you how your life’s like, anyway?”
-Mark on the self-assessment from the poweroffullengagement.com

“There isn’t enough space and there aren’t enough services in the church buildings in Abilene to support the people of this city if there were mass conversion.”
-Trey on house church planting movements

"If it's a girl, her middle name might be Galadreal."
-Phil on his unborn child, God bless the little soul

“What is the site’s name? I love anything merging religion and parody…”
-Randy on the holyobserver.com

“I didn’t know that Chinese food had fajitas!”
-David Todd on MooShu chicken

“I’m going to order a brownie!!!”
-Trey at Texas Roadhouse

"Thank God for Amazon.com! It's a communicative masterpiece!"
-Me on the Amazon Wishlist system

Lovely.

I've been picking through Mark's book stack lately, and I'm almost finished with The Power of Full Engagement. It's practical and has some good thought provoking conversation starters. Even though this book has somewhat of a "fad-ish" universalist spin, it surely confronts us about whether or not our values line up with our actions. I like that. Illustrated above are my self-perceived percentages from poweroffullengagement.com's free assessment. Hello wakeup call. I think this is very on target, and if you want a further explanation on this, just ask. Excuse me, while I go engage mentally now, in The Power of Appreciative Inquiry.

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

Humbly, I come to you, for I know you satisfy
Give me your strength
Thee will I cherish
Thee will I honor
Thou my soul’s glory, joy, and crown

Fair are the meadows
Fairer still the woodlands
Jesus is fairer
Jesus is purer
Who makes the woeful heart to sing?
I sing cause of you
Maker of Faith and Love
Believe
Believe