What Do You See? - Ryan Pryor
Notes and Quotes:
Walter Brueggemann writes, “In our contemporary context of the rat race of anxiety, the celebration of Sabbath is an act of both resistance and alternative. It is resistance because it is a visible insistence that our lives are not defined by the production and consumption of commodity goods.”
“It is a strange and wonderful fact to be here, walking around in a body, to have a whole world within you and a world at your fingertips outside you. It is an immense privilege, and it is incredible that humans manage to forget the miracle of being here. Rilke said, ‘Being here is so much,’ and it is uncanny how social reality can deaden and numb us so that the mystical wonder of our lives goes totally unnoticed. We are here. We are wildly and dangerously free.” - John O'Donohue
Every human person is inevitably involved with two worlds: the world they carry within them and the world that is out there. All thinking, all writing, all action, all creation and all destruction is about that bridge between the two worlds. All thought is about putting a face on experience… One of the most exciting and energetic forms of thought is the question. I always think that the question is like a lantern. It illuminates new landscapes and new areas as it moves. Therefore, the question always assumes that there are many different dimensions to a thought that you are either blind to or that are not available to you. So a question is really one of the forms in which wonder expresses itself. One of the reasons that we wonder is because we are limited, and that limitation is one of the great gateways to wonder… All thinking that is imbued with wonder is graceful and gracious thinking… And thought, if it’s not open to wonder, can be limiting, destructive and very, very dangerous. - John O'Donohue
Jesus offers a catalog of newnesses, of miracles, of wonders, transformations that take people in their fear and failure and disability, and wrap their lives in newness beyond themselves. That is what Jesus does. Everywhere he goes, newness happens. Newness and healing and well-being emit from his body wherever he is. That is what it means to live in the new world birthed at Christmas.” - Walter Brueggemann
Advent Theme “All shall be well” based on the thought of Julian of Norwich who famously wrote, “All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.”
Benediction:
As we approach this week, may we Love God, embrace beauty, and live life to the fullest.
(Kyle Lake)
