surrender(3/0)
Surrender is an act of defiance
I tend to be allergic to the word “surrender.” I don’t think I’ve ever joined in singing that old hymn “I Surrender All.” It’s my own hang-up–whatever–but I’ve been meditating on Jesus' victory over the powers of darkness through his surrender unto death and it occurred to me that surrender isn’t always a passive thing. Perhaps sometimes it’s passive, but it’s also sometimes militant. Surrender of myself to the Lord is an act of defiance.…
The suffering and the patience
Current favorite Greek words? θλῖψις and ὑπομονή The first is translated “tribulation” in the KJV, but that translation doesn’t do much good for me who, after all these years, still can’t get the claws of dispensationalism totally out of my head. Seeing the word “tribulation”, I still envision either some future period of intense suffering or an exceptionally intense personal struggle. What I am discovering; however, is that the etymology of the word is a metaphor taken from intense pressure, as in the pressing of grapes to produce wine.…
From solitude through surrender to compassion
The Desert Fathers and Mothers of the fourth and fifth centuries A.D. exited common Roman society to live in the Egyptian desert. According to Henri Nouwen, 💬 They escaped from the sinking ship [of Roman society] and swam for their lives. And the place of salvation is called desert, the place of solitude. Henri Nouwen, The Way of the Heart, pg. 7 Nouwen’s premise is that, without transformation, Christians are conformed to the mores of their society like passengers sailing ignorantly aboard a sinking ship (metaphor from Merton).…