Things Heard...

I'm thinking much about baptism, about ritual, about the cross, about prayer, about life and death, about hope and hopelessness and redemption and resurrection...

Here are some bits and pieces from what I've been reading these last several days...

"Relying too heavily on our imagined ideas of God may weaken or distort our relationship with him." (The Sign of the Cross, Bert Ghezzi)

"When we invoke the Trinity, we fix our attention on the God who made us, not on the idea of God we have made." (The Sign of the Cross, Bert Ghezzi)

Screwtape speaking to Wormwood, advising the junior demon to encourage his "patient" to pray to the mental picture of God that he has constructed for himself:
"But whatever the nature of the composite object, you must keep him praying to it - to the thing that he has made, not to the Person who has made him. ...For if he ever comes to make the distinction, if ever he consciously directs his prayers "Not to what I think thou art but to what thou knowest thyself to be," our situation is, for the moment, desperate." (C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, in The Sign of the Cross, Bert Ghezzi)

"Every year on a Sunday in Lent millions of Catholics witness a striking reenactment of an ancient Christian ceremony. During Mass on that day, women and men who will be baptized at Easter are presented to the congregation. Their sponsors stand before them and claim them for Christ with the sign of the cross. The rite does not end once the sponsor has traced the little mark on his candidate's forehead. The sponsor then multiplies the sacred gesture, signing the candidate's eyes, ears, mouth, shoulders, hands and feet. Finally, in a magnificent climax, he makes the sign of the cross over the person's entire body." (The Sign of the Cross, Bert Ghezzi)

St. Cyril of Jerusalem on baptism:
"For by this immersion and rising you were both dying and being born. That water of salvation was at once your grave and your mother." (in The Sign of the Cross, Bert Ghezzi)

"Each time we trace the cross over our body, we ask the Lord to refresh the life in the Holy Spirit that we received in baptism." (The Sign of the Cross, Bert Ghezzi)

"As soon as the Redeemer had restored to us our liberty he marked us with his sign, the sign of the cross. So we bear on our forehead the same sign that is engraved on the doors of palaces. The Conqueror places it there so that all may know that he has reentered into possession of us, and that we are his palaces, his living temples." (St. Caesarius of Arles, in, The Sign of the Cross, Bert Ghezzi)

"This is the true meaning of self-denial: Jesus expects us to deny that we belong to ourselves and to declare that we belong to him." (The Sign of the Cross, Bert Ghezzi)

"It matters a good deal that your book-food should be strong meat. We are what we think about. Think about trivial things or weak things and somehow one loses fibre and becomes flabby in spirit." (Candles in the Dark, Amy Carmichael)

"Many of you are preparing for service. This is my word for you: Don't say 'It doesn't matter' about anything (except your own feelings), for everything matters. Everything is important, even the tiniest thing. If you do everything, whether great or small, for the sake of your Saviour and Lord, then you will be ready for whatever work He has chosen for you to do later." (Candles in the Dark, Amy Carmichael)

Isaiah 5: 18
What sorrow for those who drag their sins behind them
with ropes made of lies,
who drag wickedness behind them like a cart!

Isaiah 6:5
Then I said, "It's all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven's Armies."

Isaiah 8: 11-17 - A Call to Trust the Lord
The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. He said,
"Don't call everything a conspiracy, like they do,
and don't live in dread of what frightens them.
Make the Lord of Heaven's Armies holy in your life.
He is the one you should fear,
He is the one who should make you tremble.
But to Israel and Judah
he will be a stone that makes people stumble,
a rock that makes them fall.
And for the people of Jerusalem
he will be a trap and a snare.
Many will stumble and fall,
never to rise again.
They will be snare and captured."
Preserve the teaching of God;
Entrust his instructions to those who follow me.
I will wit for the Lord,
who has turned away from the descendants of Jacob.
I will put my hope in him.

Isaiah 12:2-3
See, God has come to save me.
I will trust in him and not be afraid.
The Lord God is my strength and my song;
he has given me victory.
With joy you will drink deeply
from the fountain of salvation!

Cue the odd looks...

Okay, are you ready? You're ready to look at me with that "she's slightly odd" look on your face?

I spent the morning in a cemetery. Voluntarily. And it was fantastic.

There wasn't a funeral to attend. No one I know is buried in that particular cemetery.

There was just a strong pull to be there. So I spent an hour wandering, walking, praying, taking photos, reading gravestone inscriptions.

And then another hour sitting quietly and writing.

I'm not going to give you details, but it was a very good morning. Much needed. And I'm glad I followed the prompting I woke up with to go and explore a cemetery I've been wanting to visit for a couple of years.

Pieces of Flair

Have you seen the "Pieces of Flair" application on Facebook? I'm kind of in love with it.

And today, my friend Rae sent me the best piece of flair ever.

It had the following quote on it:

"You can't get a cup of tea big enough, or a book long enough to suit me." (C.S. Lewis)

It made me want to jump up and down in the joy of agreement and being perfectly understood.

And made me smile.

Weekend Plans

My mom called me this morning to let me know that she needed to cancel some plans we'd tentatively made for tomorrow since she's been ill the last few days.

She wanted to know what I was planning for this long weekend.

My answer?

Sleep. (and maybe some writing.)

I told her that I've been exhausted, and I plan to sleep as long as my body will possibly let me tomorrow morning, following which I plan to lay in bed for quite a length of time, following which I will probably relocate to the couch and lay some more.

Actually, while I do plan to spend a long time in bed tomorrow, I have other things on the agenda.

I'm going to bake brownies.

And do some laundry and cleaning.

Maybe call a good friend and see if he's in town for the long weekend, and if he'd like to hang out.

Tonight I'm watching a movie with my baby brother.

Tomorrow my roommate L. and I have plans to cook dinner together.

I'll probably mow the back lawn.

And call my cell phone company to see about making some changes to my plan.

I might go shopping for books. Or work pants. (Books are more fun than work pants.)

But mostly, I want to rest for a while. And work on some writing projects. And pray. I need to find time to get quiet and pray. Maybe make it to my park. Or this cemetery I've been wanting to visit and walk through.

Recurring Themes

Do you ever have recurring dreams? Or themes or symbols that recurr in your dreams?

I passed another night last night where I'm honestly not sure if I was awake or asleep. It was an oddly real space. Often when I dream, I know it's a dream. There's the sense of waking, of coming back to reality. Lately I've passed the occasional night that isn't like that. I'm aware of my physical surroundings, but unable to respond to them in quite the way I normally would. Somewhere between wakefulness and dreaming I guess.

Anyway, there is a symbol that tends to show up in a lot of my dreams. Particularly the ones that are more spiritually dark in nature. I tend to "see" snakes. Odd symbol, one that I'm not quite sure what to do with. I'm not excessively afraid of snakes in my day to day life (though I don't want to cuddle and touch them either). But they do tend to show up in my dreams a lot. Often crawling and swarming all over my body. Wrapping themselves around me. Not so pleasant.