Today's words

sempiternal \sem-pih-TER-nul\ - of never-ending duration : eternal

Not a term I imagine I'll ever use, but I'm pretty pleased to have recognized the root. I suppose there might be times when I might grab this as a highfalutin cross between "perpetual" and "persistent," especially in contexts in which I wish to accentuate some negative aspect that is ever present in my life.

maunder \MAWN-der\ - 1. chiefly British : grumble  2. to wander slowly and idly 3. to speak indistinctly or disconnectedly

I'm pretty sure I've encountered this word before. What really surprised me was the synonymous definition that was linked at the bottom of the write-up, a word with which I was only familiar in its more common usage.

Reforming (phase 1), Existential Experience of the History of Salvation (step 4), session 5

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!  Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, `Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!'"  - Lk 13, 34-35

How the Lord longs to bring his beloved ones home.

Again, I get just a taste of his longing for us.

We say (or sing), "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" But do we mean it, and as a result, do we see him?

Another earlier verse caught my attention, and caused me to wonder how thoroughly I have read this gospel in the past:

At that very hour some Pharisees came, and said to him, "Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you." - Lk 13, 31

We know about Nicodemus, of course, but apparently he wasn't the only of the Pharisees who didn't have it out for Jesus.

There can be no doubt: I did not equip them well. at all.

Reforming (phase 1), Existential Experience of the History of Salvation (step 4), session 4

Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;
for the LORD has spoken:
"Sons have I reared and brought up,
but they have rebelled against me.
The ox knows its owner,
and the ass its master's crib;
but Israel does not know,
my people does not understand."
Ah, sinful nation,
a people laden with iniquity,
offspring of evildoers,
sons who deal corruptly!
They have forsaken the LORD,
they have despised the Holy One of Israel,
they are utterly estranged. - Is 1, 2-4

As I was sharing with men's group about my son-in-law's view of the world, they encouraged me to remember that God feels this way about his beloved children all. the. time, or - more accurately, I suppose - perpetually.

I think I could do with feeling a little less like God.

It is hard to trust that this minor glimpse into his heart is good for me. But even as I resist it, I can see how it might be a useful tool in the next step, as he moves me to step up my opposition to my personal sinfulness.

Your country lies desolate,
your cities are burned with fire;
in your very presence
aliens devour your land;
it is desolate, as overthrown by aliens.
And the daughter of Zion is left
like a booth in a vineyard,
like a lodge in a cucumber field,
like a besieged city. - Is 1, 7-8

What will it take for us to recognize the inevitable end of our selfish short-sightedness? How many destroyed families and lives must lie in ruins behind us?  How many hearts must lie broken and bleeding in our wake?

Again, there is so much more in this first chapter of Isaiah, all of which belongs to this session. We see God's rejection of our ritualized offerings in the context of our corrupt, self-centered hearts and lives. We hear his promise to restore justice and righteousness. We are warned of the fate that awaits those who fail to repent of their wickedness.

I tremble, yet I hope in his goodness and grace.

Reforming (phase 1), Existential Experience of the History of Salvation (step 4), session 3

There is much that struck me in Jeremiah 5, the reading for this session. I suppose the biggest thing is how the beginning of this chapter corrects a misconception I had about Old Testament teaching. I thought that one of the things that was unique about Jesus' teaching was the idea that the rich are not necessarily favored by God. But even this reading from Jeremiah makes clear that at least one prophet of old proclaimed that neither poorness nor richness alone is indicative of our standing with God. Sinfulness is a universal scourge to which rich and poor alike are prone.

But despite the universality of sin among humankind, God doesn't give up on us. Rather, he has provided for our restoration, even before we are ready to walk in it.

Reforming (phase 1), Existential Experience of the History of Salvation (step 4), session 2

But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."  - Gen 1, 4-5

Oh, there is so much truth revealed in these two critical verses from our fall. Look at some of the thoughts and lies in this one temptation:

• Knowing - defining - good and evil for ourselves is a good thing.
• It is, in fact, how we should aspire to be like God.
• Doing what God says not to will have positive effects. 
• God has lied to us.

How much we live our lives under the influence of these false premises!

Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. - Gen 1, 7

Yep, they knew good and evil, and it was not a good thing.

Today we often deceive ourselves about good and evil, to rationalize doing what we want. It invariably has hurtful consequences, and eventually our eyes are open and we are dismayed by what we have done.

Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever" -- therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.  - Gen 1, 22-23

The tree of life is not eternally kept from us. The cross has become the tree of life, and when we eat the fruit of this tree, Jesus' very Body and Blood, we have eternal life.

(I want to say more about this, and may edit later.)

Reforming (phase 1), Existential Experience of the History of Salvation (step 4), session 1

First of all, this step is a mouthful.

Secondly, it and the next step are a review of areas which I have given much attention. But I trust in God to use them to bring me the growth that he desires for me.

Sin is not just a dialectical opposite of grace; it is not a trick of God’s love that He uses to show us our poverty and creaturehood so He can then show us how merciful He is. Sin in itself does not demand grace! And therefore, Christian existence is not a dialectical unity of sin and grace; rather, it is a road of decision from darkness to light, according to which the situation of each of us must be judged - Karl Rahner, Spiritual Exercises, as quoted by Step-by-Step Retreats in Step 4:  Existential Experience of the History of Salvation 

I suppose there has been a bit of a movement to view sin itself as either a means or an inseparable obverse of grace. In this view, ultimately my individual sin and our collective sinfulness are both God's fault. St. Ignatius clearly does not hold to this view any more than I do. This step will focus on the general fallen state of humankind; the next will hone in on my individual sin.

It seems to me that both of these steps will have to constantly present salvific grace as the answer to sin.

For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of nether gloom to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven other persons, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomor'rah to ashes he condemned them to extinction and made them an example to those who were to be ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the licentiousness of the wicked (for by what that righteous man saw and heard as he lived among them, he was vexed in his righteous soul day after day with their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.  - 2 Pet 2, 4-10

We can choose sin or we can choose grace. We cannot choose both. God's great desire is for our good, but he will not force that choice on us. But just because, by grace, I have repented of one sin or a series of them more destructive than those which I may still indulge, I must not conclude that the sin that remains is of no concern.