I've just started reading Dr. John Kleinig's marvelous *Grace Upon Grace: Spirituality for Today.* I can already tell this is a must read for all Lutherans. A teasing taste to tempt you?Christian spirituality is, quite simply, following Jesus. It is the ordinary life of faith in which we receive Baptism, attend the Divine Service, participate in the Holy Supper, read the Scriptures, pray for ourselves and others, resist temptation, and work with Jesus in our given location here on earth. By our practice of spirituality we are not raised to a higher plane above the normal, everyday, bodily life, but we receive the Holy Spirit from Christ so that we can live in God's presence each day of our lives as we deal with people and work, sin and abuse, inconvenience and heartbreak, trouble and tragedy. We are not called to become more spiritual by disengaging from our earthly life, but simply to rely on Jesus as we do what is given us to do, experience what is given for us to experience, and enjoy what is given us to enjoy. (p. 23)
And it just gets better. A huge coherence at the beginning of the book with Oswald Bayer's work *Theology the Lutheran Way.* When you read Kleinig you get Cappadocian theology, insights from Luther, from Loehe, and from Schmemann all "pressed down, shaken together, and running over" poured into your life! What a treat! It's available from CPH here:
Grace Upon Grace
Aw, heck. One more quote:
"We do not, as we follow Jesus, become increasingly self-sufficient. Rather, we learn, bit by bit, the art of begging from God the Father, until at death we can do nothing but say: 'Lord Jesus, have mercy on me!'" (p. 29)
Yeah, you want it!
7 comments:
Sounds very profound. The quotes remind me a bit of someof St.Gregory the Great's work on the value of earthly work.
Pax.
Just wait until you get to his section on prayer! You'll end up posting a good percentage of his book here if you're going to post quotable quotes! It's that good.
Kathy,
Right before I read your comment, I said to Cindi: It's one of those books that you realize you've gone and underlined the whole thing...
Way up on that other thread and also in my post on An Apologia for the Historic Liturgy I stressed the liturgical nature of LIFE. Dr. Kleinig unpacks that with grace, clarity and vigor. I'm thinking we need to start a book study and THIS book should be what we study!
When I do I get to say, "I told you so"?
I'm laughing about the underlining. I started to do it and realized I had underlined an entire page!
Okay okay, I'm convinced!! I've ordered 2 copies, one more for me and one for my sister!!
Christine
er, I meant one FOR me and one for my sister.
Sheesh. Never post before having required cup of coffee.
We were in the CPH "bookstore" at Higher Things after your unsolicited "plug". The operator wished he'd known; he'd have brought more copies! :)
(Mark has organized a coop order for our group.)
God bless!
Helen
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