Sunday, June 27, 2010

My Dear Child

Book Review
Urquhart, Colin. “My Dear Child..” Listening to God’s heart. Hodder and Stoughton. 1990
C.H.- pastor at Kingdom Faith Church in Horsham, West Sussex. A Christian, evangelical, apostolic and neo-charismatic leader in the U.K.
Comment. Henry
The author declares, “The Lord asked me to write this book.” Based on scripture and experience the focus of the book is an expression of God’s relationship with his child (children). It is intended to encourage, empower and inspire. The book is written in the format of short devotional considerations of how God views his child. This book would be effective as a devotional booklet read individually or used as a resource for a group activity.
The author benefited personally from writing this book. He explains, “I now have a greater understanding of who God is and of the nature of his love for each of his children”. God reveals himself as a loving heavenly father reaching out to his child (children), assuring that child of all those things that such a loving, all-powerful, compassionate father does.
The Father has provided salvation. He is love. That love is unconditional. It does not engender fear. It is kind, forgiving, patient, etc. Everything that comes from the Father is motivated by love. He is with us in all experiences (good and bad) of life.
Remain in the light, avoid darkness. God dispels darkness. Jesus is the light of the world and we are his ambassadors (little lights).
God’s truth never changes and we must accept that truth. We set our limitations by our requests from God. Understanding the Lord’s authority and how it functions in our lives and through our lives brings us peace and purpose.
When we understand God’s holiness it will bring joy not fear (of judgment). God’s glory is revealed in his child (children).
“That same Spirit, who lives in you, will lead you victoriously through all the experiences of your life, through all opposition, rejection and pain. My Spirit will take you through death itself into the glory of resurrection. You shall have a new risen body in which to reveal my glory for all eternity.” (276)

Monday, June 21, 2010

The Inner Voice Of Love

Book Review.
Nouwen, Henri J.M. The Inner Voice Of Love. A journey through anguish to freedom. Doubleday. 1996.
Comment. Henry.
This book is a collection of “spiritual imperatives” that journal the most difficult period of Henri’s life. He identifies over sixty topics and addresses each one briefly. The book was not published until eight years after he had gone through this time of ‘exile’. This book would have a special appeal to those who have gone though the experience of broken relationships and the loss of loved ones.
There are times when we all experience “a deep hole, like an abyss” (3) in our being. It is then that we must cling to the promises of God. Avoid being people pleasers. Conversion and a new life happen when we listen to our “inner voice” (6) that informs us about God. We must continually return to the ‘anchor of God’s love’ and set boundaries for our love, accepting the limitations of others.
There is great potential for peace and healing in solitude. Knowing and responding to God’s love renews our physical body. Doing what glorifies God gives us peace and rest. Doing what meets your felt needs brings frustration. We need spiritual guides. Pain from our past must be treated like death; mourn it and move on. Loneliness “opens for you the way to an even deeper knowledge of God’s love”. (37) Emotions are not to be feared but are to be befriended.
Trusting God’s gifts as revealed in our own heart is a source of stability. There is safety and security in community. As we move “toward full incarnation” (52) we need to remember where we have come from (progression) and keep pressing on. Take the risk of loving deeply. When giving and receiving are need driven they can become violent.
The knowledge of being a child of God and deeply loved by God provides protection for our innocence. Having a true friend and being a true friend requires some delicate balancing. “It is important for you to be in charge of your own drawbridge.” (84) Don’t reject yourself. Bear your own pain. Learn to distinguish real pain from false pain. Our wounds need to be dealt with deep within our hearts. Discovering the treasure of God is not the same as owning that treasure. “You always have the choice to think, speak, and act in the name of God and so move toward the Light, and the Truth, and the Life.” (114)
This book was written eight years after Henri went through a self-imposed exile during which he dealt with many spiritual issues. He died in the same year that the book was published (1996). His stated strong desire was to experience that place of relationship “where God is all in all.” (118)

Friday, June 11, 2010

William Wilberforce, Greatest Works.

Book Review.
Wilberforce, William. William Wilberforce, Greatest Works. Includes excerpts from A Practical View Of Christianity. Bridge-Logos. 2007.
Comment. Henry.
William Wilberforce holds a special place in British history as a crusader against slavery and as a Christian reformer. His ‘platform’ was the British parliament and the middle and upper class of British society. This resource is primarily excerpts from his influential work, “A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians in the Higher and Middle Classes of This Country Contrasted With Real Christianity”. The book comes with an audio excerpts CD.
William Wilberforce was a man of amazing stature, “a statesman, philanthropist, author and leader of England in the abolition of the slave trade”. (From introduction)
William’s passion to end the slave trade was fuelled by his strong belief that every man and woman is made in the image of God. He had many physical limitations but they were more than compensated by “a strong and great spirit”. (3) At 21 he became the youngest Member of Parliament and served as an MP for the next 45 years. He was a contemporary of William Pitt. Isaac Milner and John Newton were influential in William’s conversion and his discovery of a life mission. In this work he was also encouraged by his good friend John Wesley.
The passing of the act of parliament that abolished slavery was the result of a twenty year campaign. He laboured for another twenty-five years to bring about the emancipation of slavery. As a citizen and parliamentarian he also addressed “the reformation of the nation’s morals”. (24)
There was an influential group of citizens that lived in the village of Clapham that supported William in his campaign. They became known as the “Clapham Sect”. (33) Although a group of just a dozen individuals, “the Claphamites demonstrated the difference that a handful of Christian people can make”. (39)
The excerpts from Wilberforce’s work are presented under four headings: 1.Inadequate Conceptions of the Importance of Christianity.
2. Corruption of Human Nature.
3. Chief Defects of the Religious System/ the Use of Passions in Religion.
4. On the Excellence of Christianity.
The observations made under these headings are relevant to our culture and Christianity. They are as it were the continuation of God’s divine purpose for Wilberforce.
A number of ‘tributes’ to Wilberforce make up the third part of the resource. They include a poem by Anna Barbauld, several newspaper accounts of his funeral. Two poems by William Cowper, The Negro’s Complaint and Pity for Poor Africans, are included as tributes. There is a contemporary evaluation of Wilberforce by an unknown author. Rev. William Jay of the American Tract Society offers his tribute.
Wilberforce requested that his funeral be private and that he be buried in Newington church yard. So great was his stature in the hearts of people of all levels of society that he was given a burial worthy of royalty. His funeral and burial were in Westminster Abbey where a plaque displays his accomplishments. “He was borne to his last resting place by the Peers and Commoners of England with the Lord Chancellor at their head.”(176)
henrydirksen.blogspot.com

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Always Looking Up

Fox Michael J. Always Looking Up. The adventures of an incurable optimist. Hyperion. 2009.
This biography focuses on Mike’s Parkinson (PD) experience since he retired from Spin City. It is an amazing story of courage and obvious optimism that Mike demonstrates under very difficult circumstances. He focuses on four areas of his life, his work, his politics, his faith, and his family. What he is experiencing in his life puts him into a significant category of difference makers.
When Mike retired from Spin City he had no plan concerning what he would do Book Review.
with the rest of his life. His retirement came nine years after his diagnosis with PD. He describes himself as a ‘political junkie’ and this explains in part what he ended up doing and what he calls his life work. Lance Armstrong and his foundation had an influence on Mike’s decision to establish his foundation. The primary goal of the foundation was to find a cure for Parkinson so it was expected that those involved would ‘work themselves out of a job’. A special friendship developed between Mike and Mohammed Ali, the most famous person with PD.
Mike’s work would become not only leading a foundation committed to finding a cure for PD but “mixing politics with Parkinson’s”. (74) Human embryonic stem cell research became a major political issue and since the MJF foundation saw this research as a major potential for discovering cures for PD, juvenile diabetes, spinal cord injuries, etc. Mike became very involved in supporting politicians who were for stem cell research.
When Mike was visited by a couple who were presenting their Jehovah Witness beliefs, he suggests “that my willingness to hear them out was an expression of my faith”. (160) Faith is equated with tolerance. He describes himself as a spiritual person who believes in a higher power. If fear is the opposite of faith Mike could be viewed as a man of faith. In his youth he was exposed to a form of evangelicalism which he rejected. Mike identifies with Bishop Carlton D. Pearson and his position on biblical interpretation. Because of his wife’s Jewish background Mike has been “thoroughly immersed in Jewish culture and tradition”. (198)
Mike and Tracy have had a long marriage, twenty years, and they have a great family, Sam, a college student, Aquinnah and Schuyler, teenage twins, and Esme’, born six years after the twins. When asked what the ‘secret’ is for his happy marriage his simple answer is “Keep the fights clean and the sex dirty”. Regarding raising kids he has this very ‘doable’ advice, “Love ‘em, feed ‘em, and keep them out of traffic”. I must say, I found this section on the family the most interesting and the most endearing part of the book.
henrydirksen.blogspot.com

Friday, June 4, 2010

Partly Right

Book Review.
Campolo, Anthony. Partly Right. We have met the enemy, and they are (Partly Right). Word Publishing. 1985.
Comment. Henry.
This is Tony’s ‘exercise in apologetics’ written twenty five years ago. He has a concern that we don’t miss what can be learned from the critics of what he defines as ‘bourgeois Christianity’. In fact he goes so far as to say that more can be learned from critics than from friends. The changes that have taken place in the last twenty five years makes some of what is presented irrelevant. The historical content is interesting and relevant.
The “religion of main street” (13) (evangelical Christianity) has had a major influence on American society and its global status.
Salvation, which for many years was the domain of the church and its leadership, has become a very individualistic issue that is reflected in Western religion.
“Middle class religion” (32) has been impacted by influential Europeans. Hegel and his philosophy impacted not only Germany but the rest of the western world. Its evidence in America is called “Jingoism”. (59)
Nietzche’s heroism was an attack on Christianity because it focused on the glory of man rather than the glory of God. Kierkegaard, whose writings didn’t become famous until the middle of the twentieth century, mocked Hegel. Knowledge and faith were not enough for man’s salvation. “Only a personal encounter in the depths of one’s being; only an intimate relationship with God in the uttermost subjectivity of the self; only the voice from within can utter saving grace.” (99)
Freud and his followers have rightly challenged the hypocrisy of those who would talk about righteous living while being in a state of denial regarding basic sexual drives and inhibitions. The Neo-Freudian positions on Christianity are presented.
Much ink is given to Karl Marx and his “attack upon cultural middle-class religion”. (145) He rejected Hegel’s philosophy and developed his “doctrine of alienation”. (177) A Christian response to this doctrine is presented. Dostoyevsky, who predates Marx, refuted Marx’s philosophy and produced a “most brilliant exposition of Christian philosophy”. (194)
By way of conclusion, Campolo is encouraged by the activities of the Moral Majority and its leader Jerry Falwell. He talks about an “evangelical left” (215) movement that is (was?) making a significant impact on American society. Campolo declares, “I believe that middle-class Christianity is on the verge of its greatest days and is capable of making a historical contribution to Christianity”. (222)