What probably amounts to Evangelical Heresy.
Among Evangelical Christians, King David is seen as a pillar of the Christian faith, one whose love for the Lord was unparalleled and whose actions were (almost) perfect. From his anointing as a young boy, to his defeat of Goliath, to his flight from Saul, to his dancing before the ark through to the end of his life, David is perceived to be a penitent man of forward-moving faith for the Lord, who is blessed with an eternal dynasty by God in return. This tends to lead to theologies that emphasize ‘faith’ as a quantitative factor within blessings from God.
This probably comes from within Evangelical circles through historically faulty readings of the books of Samuel, most notably 2 Samuel, that emphasize a need for Israelite kings (despite Samuel’s warnings in 1 Samuel 8 ) a need for a centralized temple within Israel (despite having a centralized Tabernacle), and a belief in the saving faith of the believer (Sinner’s Prayer anyone?).
What if, persay, the blessing bestowed onto David was not based on the faith of David, but on the faithfulness of the God of Israel?
We hear that David was a man after God’s own heart, and we infer that to mean that David was all about doing God’s work, with the exception of flubbing up with the whole Bathsheba debacle. What is implicit (and sometimes explicit) in the text however, is that David also had people murdered, lied, stole wives, had many wives, horses, silvers, and golds (breaking specific laws for kings in Deuteronomy). Basically the only thing David didn’t do was commit idolatry – good for him. So David was not a nice dude. So what do we do about this whole ‘man after God’s own heart’ stuff?
How about this: ‘man after God’s own heart’ doesn’t have to do with the man following God, but God following the man ‘after his own heart’?
This would mean that no matter what evil stuff David did, God was always with him, through thick and thin, and for his descendents too. David’s faith had nothing to do with his blessing by God.
I think this is an important thing to drive home, because prosperity doctrines and their ilk are running rampant in our churches and, I think, have seeped into our daily prayer lives, subliminally. God will do what he will, when he will, how he will – you can’t stop him. And God’s will is that none shall perish and creation will be made new. We serve a mighty God, and we have no need to pray, ‘with more faith.” Faith in a loving God is good enough.
WK
This entry was written by , posted on October 25, 2008 at 12:22 am, filed under Christianity, Church and tagged Bible, Christianity, David, Prayer. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
A Quick Word
Christ, as a light
illumine and guide me.
Christ, as a shield
overshadow me.
Christ under me;
Christ over me;
Christ beside me
on my left and my right.
This day be within and without me,
lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.
Be in the heart of each to whom I speak;
in the mouth of each who speaks unto me.
This day be within and without me,
lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.
Christ as a light;
Christ as a shield;
Christ beside me
on my left and my right.
- The Canticle of the Northumbria Community’s Morning Prayer in the Daily Office.
Go in Peace.
WK
This entry was written by , posted on October 24, 2008 at 7:21 am, filed under Spiritual Disciplines and tagged Christianity, Daily Office, Prayer. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Blog Action Day: Isaiah 61 Project
Today is blog action day, and in the spirit of Blog Action day, I’m going to write about a project near to my wife’s, and now my, heart: The Isaiah 61 Project.
The Isaiah 61 Project was founded in 2004 by Albert and Carolyn Hudson to break the cycle of poverty and sex trade rife in Thailand. They coordinate educational sponsorships to keep pre-teen girls from being sent to the city ‘for a better life’, that ends with them in the sex trade.
Carolyn Hudson is a friend of my parents-in-law and we’ve had the blessing to adopt a thirteen year old girl named Ning. Our funds go straight to keeping her in school and out of the brothels. This makes me really happy.
What I also love about Isaiah 61 is that Carolyn is really pro in bringing people to Thailand to meet their sponsor kids and to educate about the endemic poverty of Thailand.
Please. Check them out. They are good people doing great work.
Isaiah 61:1-4
1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.
4 They shall build up the ancient ruins;
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.
WK
This entry was written by , posted on October 15, 2008 at 7:12 pm, filed under Christianity, Life and tagged Christianity, Isaiah 61 Project, Poverty, Social Justice, Thailand. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
The Daily Office
9 Days since last post. oops.
Man, it is hard to change one’s daily routine.
For the last 2 weeks, I have been actively pursuing this new Rule of Life that I have adopted. What has risen as the backbone of the rule is the Daily Office.
The Daily Office, that is daily time-set prayer, is one of the oldest disciplines used by Christians. The Psalms refer to it (e.g. Psalm 119:164), Luke writes about it in Acts (e.g. Acts 3:1), The Didache (the oldest Christian Liturgy) mentions it, The Church Fathers wrote about it (e.g. Clement of Alexandria, Origen and Tertullian) and move into the Roman Rite and Eastern Church to Now.
The Office I’m working from is the Celtic Office, found online at the Northumbrian Community’s website , a community devoted to living a monastic lifestyle. Being an ethnic Celt, I thought this one would work – plus it is free and introduced to me by my local monastic sounding-board, George Sweetman.
Devotion to the Daily Office is hard, and I’m only at 2 of the hours (there’s like, 7). What I have found is this: I’ve found that in adopting this rule, I’ve had to start going to bed earlier, because having to focus for about 30-45 minutes of day-starting is a tough task, especially when you are a night-hawk that works in the mornings. I think I might start doing this outside to help wake me up. But here’s the thing: structuring a daily life around set prayer times really helps orient your thinking. I’m someone whose first hour of being awake greatly influences the rest of the day. Every morning I finish my first hour awake with these words:
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you,
wherever He may send you.
May He guide you through the wilderness,
protect you through the storm.
May He bring you home rejoicing
at the wonders He has shown you.
May He bring you home rejoicing
once again into our doors.
Being well-rested and going forward into the world with these words around me really centers my spirit for the day. These words just hold me in a way that moves beyond cognition. It moves me beyond sentimentality. It moves me into vision.
WK
This entry was written by , posted on May 26, 2008 at 9:51 pm, filed under Life, Spiritual Disciplines and tagged Christianity, Daily Office, Prayer, Rule of Life, Spiritual Discipline. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Will’s Rule of Life
So I just finished The Sacred Way, by Tony Jones, to point me in the way of correct spiritual discipline. After looking into the histories, theologies, and practices of different disciplines, I think I’ve found the ones I’m going to adopt. What’s more, I need to develop my rule of life.
A ‘rule’, for those who don’t know, is a set of precepts that guide conduct/action. The Desert Fathers, a formative group of Christian Ascetics situated in the deserts of the Middle East that lasted from the 4th Century A.D., until the 7th (ish) set out the Rule of the Master in which they espoused service, humility, silence, solitude and contemplation. The next most famous Rule is the Rule of Benedict, which some would say is the basis for all of Christian Monasticism.
So am I going to become a Monk? No. Certainly not. I’m getting married in 94 days! But I am going to start living an orderly life.
So far, the Rule looks like this:
The Rule of William Kinchlea.
Daily:
Every morning, I’ll do Matins (from the Daily Office – pre-written prayer, based on the psalms) and 300 Jesus Prayers. Every evening, I’ll do Compline (again, from the Daily Office).
Weekly:
I’ll spend at least 1 hour meditating and praying through an icon. During the Summer, Friday-Sunset-to-Saturday-Sunset Sabbath will be too difficult, traveling between 3 cities on weekends and working on the Wedding, so I’m going to dedicate 2 hours a day to not working. 7×2 = 14 hours – pretty much the waking hours of a Saturday. When the Summer’s over, this will change.
Monthly:
At least, once a month, I’ll walk the prayer labyrinth at St. John’s Convent, down the road from me.
—
That’s the structure in which I will begin my rule, starting tomorrow. If anything sounds weird in there (What’s a Jesus Prayer? for example), don’t worry, as I’m going to explain each one of these in time.
*NB* Now, Service is an essential part of Spiritual Discipline, but I want to discover what that service will be in time, through prayer. We’ll see together.
This entry was written by , posted on May 6, 2008 at 5:27 pm, filed under Life, Spiritual Disciplines and tagged Christianity, Meditation, Prayer, Rule of Life, Spiritual Discipline. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
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