Awakening Transformation - Fr. Rob Lord+: The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

What I Am Reading

Clifford Williams: Singleness of Heart: Restoring the Divided Soul
This is one of those books that you find after many years, and wonder how you ever missed it. Clifford Williams has offered a simple yet profound picture of the internal battle Christians face.
Doug Worgul: Thin Blue Smoke: A Novel About Music, Food & Love (Macmillan New Writing)
Doug, a friend and former parishioner of mine when I was Rector of St. Michael and All Angels in Mission, Kansas(KansasCity), has written an immensely enjoyable and penetrating novel that has all the flavors of Kansas City, love, grace, sin, redemption, blues and barabecue. Having been blessed to live there for 10 years, I felt like I was right in the middle of the book. Doug, is an exceptional writer, and one who is on the journey of transformation. No one else could have written such a great story, a tapestry of of some of the very best things about life - especially, Kansas City style.
Dallas Willard: Knowing Christ Today: Why We Can Trust Spiritual Knowledge
At a time when popular atheism books are talking about the irrationality of believing in God, Willard makes a rigorous intellectual case for why it makes sense to believe in God and in Jesus, the Son.
Richard Stearns: The Hole in Our Gospel: What does God expect of Us? The Answer that Changed my Life and Might Just Change the World
"Rich Stearns has penned a passionate and persuasive book aimed at Christians who find themselves absorbed with their own existence, pursuing the American dream of health, wealth and happiness. Rich traces his own spiritual journey from having it all, to sacrificial living on behalf of those who have nothing. Not only is Rich eloquent, he's right."
Kevin W. McCarthy: The On-Purpose Person: Making Your Life Make Sense
Kevin and his family are members of All Saints here in Winter Park FL. I read his first edition of this book in 1993 and found it enormously helpful. His new revised release of this book is even more compelling. Do you feel pulled in a thousand different directions? Are your days so busy you hardly have time to think? Are you living up to other people's expectations while your own plans and dreams go unmet? In The On-Purpose Person you'll learn how to discover who you are, where you are headed, what you should do, and what's most important to you! That's being on-purpose!
John P. Kotter: A Sense of Urgency
Does your organization have a true sense of urgency? What is the greatest threat to our lives and our mission in this world? At the top of the list is complacency. John Kotter reveals the insidious nature of complacency in all its forms and guises.
Mary Poplin: Finding Calcutta: What Mother Teresa Taught Me About Meaningful Work and Service
"Mary Poplin takes us on a pilgrimage toward clarity about who we are and what our life amounts to. The pilgrimage is simultaneously through Calcutta and through the heart of the 'sophisticated' dynamics of university life in America. As it proceeds we gain a better understanding of the social forces that govern the university in the name of intellect--but falsely so...Dallas Willard
Dr. Dennis A. Butler: The Road to Wisdom: Becoming
Dennis was a great help to me as a spiritual friend in my previous parish. His outstanding work on human transformation and behavior has culminated in this exceptional book. Using the assesment tool, known as the Enneagram, he helps us understand the healthy and unhealthy dimenions of our personality and worldview. If you want to go deeper into the practice of self-examination, and find the wisdom to grow, read this book.
Gary A. Haugen: Just Courage: God's Great Expedition for the Restless Christian
This book will cause you to do some very real self-examination. - Rob "I dare you to read Gary Haugen without growing a bigger vision of God. He is a prophet in our day calling us to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God." —John Ortberg
Ruth Haley Barton: Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership: Seeking God in the Crucible of Ministry
I’m tired of helping others enjoy God." "I just want to enjoy God for myself." With this painful admission, Ruth Haley Barton invites us to an honest exploration of what happens when spiritual leaders lose track of their souls.
Gary A. Haugen: Good News About Injustice: A Witness of Courage in a Hurting World
"I defy anybody to emerge from exposure to this book unscathed. In fact, my advice to would-be readers is 'Don't! Leave the book alone!'--unless you are willing to be shocked, challenged, persuaded and transformed." —John Stott
Brian McLaren: Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient Practices
If I want to see change in the world, the change needs to begin in myself. If I want to see the world become more peaceful, for example, I need to become a person of peace. If I want the world to become less consumptive, I need to become more self-disciplined, and so on. So, to be the change we want to see in the world, we need spiritual practices that help us change.
Adam Hamilton: Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White: Thoughts on Religion, Morality, and Politics
Everyone agrees that America is polarized, with ever-hardening positions held by people less and less willing to listen to one another. No one agrees on what to do about it. One solution that hasn’t yet been tried, says Adam Hamilton, is for thinking persons of faith to model for the rest of the country a richer, more thoughtful conversation on the political, moral, and religious issues that divide us.
Mark Galli: Beyond Smells & Bells: The Wonder and Power of Christian Liturgy
"In this warm and engaging book, Mark Galli makes a compelling case for the relevance of Christian liturgy in our postmodern, individualistic age. Through lucid examples and moving personal testimony, Gallie explains the countercultural appeal of liturgical worship that spans the denominational spectrum."
N. T. Wright: Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
For years Christians have been asking, "If you died tonight, do you know where you would go?" It turns out that many believers have been giving the wrong answer. It is not heaven. Award-winning author N. T. Wright outlines the present confusion about a Christian's future hope and shows how it is deeply intertwined with how we live today. Wright, who is one of today's premier Bible scholars, asserts that Christianity's most distinctive idea is bodily resurrection. He provides a magisterial defense for a literal resurrection of Jesus and shows how this became the cornerstone for the Christian community's hope in the bodily resurrection of all people at the end of the age.

April 09, 2009

The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

I find these words regarding the meaning of the Cross by N.T. Wright, to be among the best I have ever read. I am very uncomfortable with too much emphasis on a certain oversimplification: such as the medieval model of a vengeful father being placated by an act of gratuitous violence against his innocent son. In fact, the scripture is too rich and varied to support that kind of reduction of the truth.

While noting the obvious problems with a crude doctrine of propitiation (a loving Jesus placating a malevolent God) we can also go to an opposite extreme.

To deny God's condemnation of sin, as some would do today as they have for hundreds of years, is to deny the depth and weight of sin and the deeper depth and heavier weight of God’s redeeming love. The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. I hope you hear that story proclaimed from those entrusted with the high call of preaching this week.

Read this prayerfully:

"Face it: to deny God's wrath is, at bottom, to deny God's love. When God sees humans being enslaved, if God doesn't hate it, he is not a loving God. When God sees innocent people being bombed because of someone's political agenda, if God doesn't hate it, he isn't a loving God. When God sees people lying and cheating and abusing one another, exploiting and grafting and preying on one another, if God were to say, 'never mind, I love you all anyway', he is neither good nor loving. The Bible doesn't speak of a God of generalized benevolence. It speaks of the God who made the world and loves it so passionately that he must and does hate everything that distorts and defaces the world and particularly his human creatures." - Bishop N.T. Wright.

The cross is the place where, and the means by which, God loved us to the uttermost.

With you on the Journey of the Great Three Days,

Rob+

April 09, 2009 | Permalink

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Comments

Thank you, Rob. Powerful words.

Grace to you, and peace.

Doug Worgul

Posted by: Doug Worgul | April 10, 2009 at 02:13 PM

Thanks Doug. Blessed Easter to you, Rebeca and the kids. Alleluia, He is Risen

Posted by: Rob+ | April 11, 2009 at 11:30 AM

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Good Places To Visit

Covenant
We embrace a historic orthodoxy that is generous in spirit, confident in the contribution evangelical-catholics can make to Anglicanism, and welcoming of the diversity of traditions within North American Christianity.
Fulcrum: Renewing the Evangelical Center
Fulcrum aims to represent the centre ground of evangelical Anglicanism in the church and in wider society
All Saints Episcopal Church, Winter Park, Florida
The Parish I serve as Rector
Jesus Creed
Exploring the significance of Jesus and the Orthodox Faith for the 21st Century.
NASHOTAH HOUSE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
This is my seminary where I attended from 1977-1980. It remains one seminary where Mere Christianity in the Catholic and Evangeical tradition is honored and where clergy are trained in the richness of the Anglican Tradition.
Living Church Web Site
A good source of news about the Episcopal Church
Renovare
The ministry of Richard Foster, helping churches with making disciples and spiritual transformation
Bishop N.T. Wright Website
N.T. Wright is a leading New Testament Scholar and Theologian in the Anglican Communion. Solid and dynamic reading!
World Of Your Making
My twin brother and fellow Episcopal Priest's weblog
The Northumbria Community
A "new monasticism" community in Northern England and the Holy Island of Lindisfarne

Awakening Transformation - Fr. Rob Lord+

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