21 January 2008
Patristic Quote of the Day
You see again how it is from faith that the boldness comes, and the gift is universal; since it is not of the Jews only that this is said, but also of the whole human race. For every one, he would say, whether Jew, or Grecian, or Scythian, or Thracian, or whatsoever else he may be, will, if he believes, enjoy the privilege of great boldness. -- St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Romans (IX)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Wow, thanks for this. You know boldness can be a problem though, a big, fat problem. I am sure you can understand this as a pastor, yes?
Dear Olympiada,
It can be a problem in several ways indeed. But it is also a comfort beyond all comforts to take up the Our Father and realize that the Mighty King and Creator of all has given Himself to us exactly as our Father, so that with all boldness and confidence we can ask of Him, as dear children ask their dear father. Pax!
Forgive me, but what if our own father is a secular humanist, or an atheist, and that is our model of a father. Than what. Are Lutheran pastors Reverend N. or Pastor N.? I guess what I am saying is what if Our Father is not a comfort, and we feel He is not in our life? Like what if this "dear children, dear father" relationship is not realistic to us?
Dear Olympiada,
Lutheran clerics are usually called Pastor.
About our Father, well, I think we need to view it in reverse. The real father/child relationship is that between the heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus. It's the one that our father/child relationships are very inadequate pictures of. But even with our inadequate pictures, when a person has a horrific experience with their own parent, I think people carry a pretty clear idea around in their head of what their parent SHOULD have been and what they were called to be. The heavenly Father is that, and even more: Father like father was meant to be. Does that help at all?
I am sorry, it doesn't, I view much of Christianity as sentimentalism. I have also gotten in big trouble with my Church already so I probably need to shut up publicly about this issue. I don't want to draw any controversy to you or your blog and it seems to follow me around the internet (and into my real life) like a plague. I am feeling very jaundiced right now. But I do look forward to your next blog post, and please post on the group if you find it valuable.
See, the whole father/son relationship makes me sick for the most part, I have seen very few that make me feel good at heart, so I can't really imagine one that is "good". I guess my ideal relationship is between sponsor and sponsee in 12 step programs, as a parallel to Father/son.
Post a Comment