In the news...

It's been a while since I posted the news headlines that were catching my eye on a given day, but here are a few from today...

Keeping up the Hard Line on Cuba
As a dual Canadian/American citizen I find the whole topic of Cuba interesting, since the two countries approach their relations with Cuba in such dramatically different fashions. I'm also wondering, as a dual citizen, how it works if I were to ever want to vacation in Cuba - as a Canadian I can, but as an American? How does that work anyway? (Not that I'm planning a Cuban vacation anytime soon... just something I've wondered about from time to time...)

Burma Frees 70 Protesters
Because I know some people who live and work near the Burmese border with Thailand.

In Search of Stolen Saints
Because I find iconography and religious art and history fascinating, and because the title really did catch my eye.

Man Who Sexually Abused Daughter Gets 10 Years
Because I know so many who are abuse victims, and this man's actions made me incredibly angry. 10 years just doesn't seem long enough for someone who began abusing his daughter at 3 weeks old.

The Authority of Compassion - Henri Nouwen

Continuing the thoughts on Jesus and church from Henri Nouwen...

The Authority of Compassion

The Church often wounds us deeply. People with religious authority often wound us by their words, attitudes, and demands. Precisely because our religion brings us in touch with the questions of life and death, our religious sensibilities can get hurt most easily. Ministers and priests seldom fully realize how a critical remark, a gesture of rejection, or an act of impatience can be remembered for life by those to whom it is directed.

There is such an enormous hunger for meaning in life, for comfort and consolation, for forgiveness and reconciliation, for restoration and healing, that anyone who has any authority in the Church should constantly be reminded that the best word to characterize religious authority is compassion. Let's keep looking at Jesus whose authority was expressed in compassion.

Scheduling and Prioritizing

I'm thinking a lot about scheduling and prioritizing again lately. Having conversations with a variety of friends. Reading a book another friend recommended I pick up.

Needing to figure out what exactly the most important things are. Knowing what some of them are, and needing to figure out how to give them the time they deserve. Needing to build white space into my life on a regular basis - not just on unexpected evenings like tonight when something is canceled.

I fell asleep on the couch trying to read and pray for the last hour... I had an abnormally late night last night, abnormally early morning this morning, but still... needing to find a way to rest more consistently...

laying here, thinking about priorities, and half-way watching my television show... going to bed soon...

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Now playing: Frou Frou - Let Go
via FoxyTunes

An Evening In...

I have an unexpected quiet evening... plans fell through so I did some errands, and now, I'm enjoying a quiet house.

I don't get a lot of evenings alone these days, but my roommate is out of town for a couple of days, so I have the house to myself...

I have all the essentials within arms reach.

A cup of lemon mango fruit infusion loose tea.

A couple of cookies.

Candles are lit, and burnt some incense a bit earlier so the smell is still hanging in the air.

Tonight I'm going to do some reading, a variety of sources...

I have the following titles within arm's reach:
C.S. Lewis "The Silver Chair"
The Autobiography of George Muller
J. Matthew Sleeth, MD "Serve God, Save the Planet"
Lauren Winner "Mudhouse Sabbath"
Andy Stanley "Choosing to Cheat"
Jeannie Ostreicher & Larry Warner "Imaginative Prayer for Youth Ministry"
Andy Freeman & Pete Greig "Punk Monk"

and a pen - because I can't read without a pen...

Grey's Anatomy is on later... love that show, may watch, may not... the commercials are showing a Halloween episode - looks a bit creepy and not sure I can watch that before sleeping...

I'll probably turn some music on soon.... maybe the soundtrack to Garden State, or maybe something from Jason Upton or Jacob and Lily...

see you later....

More on church from Henri Nouwen

For a week or two now, the daily reflections from the Henri Nouwen society have had to do with church, and they've served as strong reminders for me. I've stuck a bunch of them up here for you too.

The one today reminds me of a conversation I had on the phone with a dear friend on the weekend... we talked a bit about church, and recovering from church, and having a heart for the church...

Meeting Christ in the Church

Loving the Church does not require romantic emotions. It requires the will to see the living Christ among his people and to love them as we want to love Christ himself. This is true not only for the "little" people - the poor, the oppressed, the forgotten - but also for the "big" people who exercise authority in the Church.

To love the Church means to be willing to meet Jesus wherever we go in the Church. This love doesn't mean agreeing with or approving of everyone's ideas or behavior. On the contrary, it can call us to confront those who hide Christ from us. But whether we confront or affirm, criticize or praise, we can only become fruitful when our words and actions come from hearts that love the Church.