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Rags or Riches?
A certain ruler asked Jesus, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good,” except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.'" "All these I have kept since I was a boy," he said. "When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing."
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Reducing Consciousness 2
"A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which are only accessible to our reason in their most elementary forms--it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute the truly religious attitude."
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Reducing Consciousness 1
In the classic Dickens story, A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge sees a ghost. Skeptic that he is, he does not believe what he sees. When the ghost asks him why he doubts his senses, he replies: "Because, a little thing affects them. A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats. You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato."
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Beyond Good Manners 2
As Emily Post, the guru of good manners, acknowledges, it's what's inside that counts. It is possible to conceal a core of evil behind a smiling facade. A woman can be sweet and pleasant to your face and then figuratively stab you in the back with hurtful words. A man of "good-breeding" can politely send millions to their deaths in the misguided name of ethnic cleansing. These are moral infants who have never grown beyond the outward show of good manners to the internalised virtues that they are designed to represent.
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Beyond Good Manners 1
When my grandson William was not yet one year old, his mother was already training him to say please. When William wanted something, she reminded him, "Say please," and he responded by making a circular motion on his chest in the manner of American Sign Language. What can be the advantage in teaching a child who is still working on "Mama," "Dada," and "Nana" how to say please when he can't even really "say" it?
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The Word Became Flesh
A word is a separate thing from that which it describes. It is also linked by meaning to the thing it describes. Meaning unites the word and its object inseparably. A rose is a rose is a rose. The object gives meaning to the word and the word becomes inseparable from the object. One can no longer exist without the other. This is so true, that it is safe to say that no thing or concept can exist in our minds without us naming it.
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Advent Musings
Advent Season unfolds in the midst of carnival-like barkers vying for our attention. The halls are all being decked while marketing agents scheme to capture our imagination. Colorful brochures arrive daily; on television sixty-second episodes guarantee happiness or satisfaction if the product being hawked is purchased. Amid all the hoopla it is easy to slip into the commercialization trap.
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The Hot Coal of Immortality
Seventeenth century poet and cleric John Donne is one of my favourite writers. Because of his unique perspective, writing four hundred years ago, his poems, prose, and sermons are are adorned with insightful metaphors that delight and challenge the modern reader. The delight is in the insight; the challenge is in deciphering the archaic spelling and cultural references. Donne was a contemporary of Shakespeare, and I am often thankful for the explanatory notes that accompany his writings.
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Beyond Good Manners 1
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Sailing Through the Storm 2
My son-in-law Darren is a sailing enthusiast. The combination of the wildness of the wind and the discipline of navigation suits him, as he is both an outdoorsman and an engineer. He has learned to manoeuvre his craft under all sorts of conditions, including unfavourable ones.
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Sailing Through the Storm 1
While vacationing in Florida, a friend of mine decided to try his hand at deep-sea fishing. He rose early in the morning to board a boat that had been specially outfitted to give tourists the thrill of a lifetime - the challenge of landing a huge trophy fish from the deep waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The passengers were giddy with anticipation as salt spray flew out of the sunrise into their eager faces. It wasn't long, however, before quite different feelings were stirring within them.
