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April 28, 2006
Another one in the same vein
My sister sent me this quote last week.
"Anxiety and Fear are what we know best in this fantastic century of
ours. Wars and rumors of wars. From civilization itself to what seemed the
most unalterable values of the past, everything is threatened or already in
ruins. We have heard so much tragic news that when the news is good we
cannot hear it. But the proclamation of Easter Day is that all is well. And as a
Christian, I say this not with the easy optimism of one who has never known a time when all was not well but as one who has faced the cross with all its
obscenity as well as in all its glory, who has known one way or another what it
is like to live separated from God. In the end, his will, not ours, is
done. Love is the victor. Death is not the end. The end is life. His life
and our lives through him, in him. Existence has greater depths of beauty,
mystery, and benediction than the wildest visionary has ever dared to
dream.
Christ our Lord has risen."
-Frederick Buechner, The Magnificent Defeat
Posted by tacyjane at 03:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 26, 2006
it is unfortunate that...
... only a handful of posts ago i was commenting on the snow-layers on cars driving by in st. elmo.
since then the season has changed from winter to the poking buds of early spring, and again from early spring to the thick green foliage of Appalacia in late april.
i will soon be taking a 'retreat' of sorts, which from all perspectives seems foreordained. I will be housesitting on a lake in Soddy Daisy, which will give me the chance to do something thinking, writing, and praying during the next two weeks. And during that time I will also be graduating from college and transitioning into the real world (for real) this time. Good time for solitude. My friend Susan recently said these wise things, prodding me to 'grieve' a bit for my college years...
"we were talking about the whole idea of resurrection. the simple, obvious, and easily forgotten truth of the matter is that there is no resurrection without death. and our lives as believers are supposed to be completely about the work of redemption that's embodied in the resurrection. so this leaves us with the fact that our lives, by nature of involving a lot of life and resurrection, are going to also involve a whole lot of death. i think that our twenties are a decade of many deaths ... the kind that come in the form of change ... change in identity, location, vocation, personal theology, friendships, family, etc. so the hope is that while we are mourning almost more than we can bear, we can also keep our eyes peeled for the life that's growing in death's place. we can keep our ears out for Jesus' voice ... and, like lazarus, we hear his voice most powerfully when we are lying helpless in the tomb. how beautiful to think of these hard moments of sadness as opportunities to be called back to life by Christ himself. it encourages me, perhaps it will you too.
Posted by tacyjane at 11:57 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
April 11, 2006
Maestro Brahms
It is said that once while Brahms was at a dinner party, the hostess turned to her honored guest, and said,
"Maestro Brahms, are you enjoying yourself?"
and he responded,
"Yes madam, that is all that I am enjoying."
Posted by tacyjane at 10:41 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
April 10, 2006
purposes of lit
the purpose of literature is to better enjoy life, or to better endure it.
-samuel johnson
Posted by tacyjane at 12:10 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack