This is one of the questions of the more random variety. Which word do you use to convey love for God, or for that matter, love from God, in Spanish?
Gustar conveys like, but above that, conveys that which is pleasing to someone. For example, "A ella, le gusta helado." translates as "To her, ice cream is pleasing."
Amar, most commonly translates to love. "La madre les ama a sus hijos." translates as "The mother loves her sons, or, her children."
Querer expresses want and desire in the context of love. "El chico la quiere." = "The boy wanted her."*
Encantar: to be enchanted with--My favorite in this context. "Ella le encanta Dios." "She is enchanted with God." This one almost necessitates the definition of "enchanted" in English also. enchant(v): "To attract; to delight; to entrance"
*Although each has its own connotation, and may not practically be translated as I see them here (for instance, "querer" often has a connotation of lust) they all, at least in my understanding of their translation, show a very different characteristic of our relationship with God that brings a fullness to that relationship not as clearly illustrated with our one word.
Reminder to self: Use them all, frequently.
It keeps coming back to me also that there are nine words for "worship" in Hebrew, and only one in our English-translated Bibles. No wonder how services often lack the depth of those at the synagogue.
How can we, how can I, reclaim what is lost in translation?
G&P!
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
4. Short thoughts
"Indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So don not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today." -Matthew 6:32b-34
Less time on me. More time on God. Got it...
Grace & Peace!
Less time on me. More time on God. Got it...
Grace & Peace!
3. Ruminations on Psalm 122
Trying to catch up on some of the thoughts I've been meaning to blog on over the past week or so!
1I was glad when they said to me,
"Let us go to the house of the LORD!"
2Our feet are standing within your gates,
O Jerusalem.
3Jerusalem-built as a city that is bound firmly
together.
4To it the tribes go up,
the tribes of the LORD,
as was decreed for Israel,
to give htanks to the name
of the LORD.
5For there the thrones for judgment were set up,
the thrones of the house of David.
6Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
"May they prosper who love you.
7Peace be within your walls,
and security within your towers."
8For the sake of my relatives and friends I will say,
"Peace be within you."
9For the sake of the house of the LORD our God,
I will seek your good.
We spent worship tonight reflecting on this passage.
What does it mean to have peace in the midst of war and violence? What does it mean to be a source of peace in this midst?
I'm trying to compile my thoughts while mine and those of some others in discussion are still fresh:
There must be a clear distinction that peace is defined by and through experience. The back of the bulletin tonight had a quote from the UNESCO Constitution in
1945, "Since wars began in the [human] mind, it is in the [human] mind that the defenses of peace must be constructed."
This "invention" of ours--this continual fight over property, over land and a hand in the abundance--enough for everyone if we could just take the time to share it rather than hoarding it--if we could stall the progress of this invention, than we may have a hand in stopping it.
But as it was experience by experience that built it up, to be an acceptable regime to live under, it is experience by experience that must break it down again. Someone else mentioned in discussion that those living in war-torn countries don't know what to do when war stops--because it's all they've lived with, and so they often begin another war in the first's place, or another conflict. We live in a world where war and violence have become acceptable. There is no longer any shock in hearing our nations (or even our one nation "under God") are at war--are engaged in constant conflict with their brothers and sisters.
Experience. Shane Claibourne, and I come back to him again and again as his book is so full of living a life for God in the small, tangible experiences, shares the story of his trip to Iraq. He and a small group of friends traveled to the Middle East in the middle of conflict with no clear agenda other than to show God's love to the people of Iraq--wowing in itself. While there, they were traveling through a desert riddled with landmines and I believe that it was one exploding that sent one of the cars in their caravan into a ditch. A few passengers were badly injured, and as they tried to determine how to get them help, a car full of Iraqis happened to be driving by. It was the Good Samaritan experience. Those in the car helped the Shane and the other travelers to the nearby town to get to the hospital for treatment and gave them a place to stay and rest in their home.
They turned to Shane, knowing his mission there, and thanked him--saying (and I guess, having returned the book to the next reader at the library) "I know you serve a God of peace. I have great faith in such a God, and I hope you will work to spread the knowledge of such a God to those in your country, because we serve the same God here in Iraq and we do not know either why we are in this war."
And all I can do is sit back in awe. Mother Theresa lived her words, "We are not called to do great things but to do small things with great love." I think all of us in mind of peace seek to do these things, and want to do them. If someone were to turn to us for help, we would gladly give it, but when we do not know the "things to do" because so many crowd our attention until we are numb, and we fall back into a routine of the daily things that need to be done.
An image I often use with Wesley's theology of perfection in love and sanctifying grace is that of a young child. As children try on the clothes of their parents, baggy and ill-fitting, and look in the mirror in awe and trying to understand how they might possibly ever grow up to look or act or be like their parents...so we too look at God. We stare in the mirror with our greatest parent, God our Father, standing behind us with his hand on our shoulder and we look at our ill-fitting clothes and wonder how we will ever fill them out to be anything like our God, but through the nurture we receive from Him, and from others, we continue to grow. We continue to inadvertently grow into the love we were first shown. Two important distinctions exist here. First, a child never grows up to be identical to the parent. They share common characteristics but the child is an individual and rightly so. Their independent decisions will shape them in ways separate from the experiences of their parents. And second, because of these separate gifts and graces, a child never truly fills those same shoes they tottered in in childhood. We will never truly be perfect in love as our God is, but we continue on the path to meet that goal.
The Chicago Temple--tallest church in the world and United Methodist to boot--has two sanctuaries. One is at ground level, and the second (separated from the first by levels of law and business offices as the church is located literally in the middle of one of Chicago's busiest business sections of towns--right by State Street shopping) is at the level of a skyscraper--"the sky-high chapel." An image on the altar of the ground level sanctuary shows the scene of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem and wanting peace for his people. The chapel shows the scene again, this time with Jesus weeping over Chicago. The pastor shared the church's intention to show that Jesus weeps for the peace, truly, for all his people. Jerusalem represents the center we return to, the central conviction of our search for peace.
As Jesus weeps, we cry too. And we try to do our part.
Pastor Weatherly shared the words of a professor who told his class that "The Fall was the greatest thing that happened to humanity, because without it, we would never have had any cause to seek salvation." Because we have fallen, and our brothers and sisters have fallen with us, we continue to seek salvation. We continue to seek peace.
For myself, this means taking off the blinders and taking a good look around me. I turn first to prayer.
Grace & peace, to any who may happen upon this, in the name of our risen savior and perfector in faith, Jesus Christ. :)
1I was glad when they said to me,
"Let us go to the house of the LORD!"
2Our feet are standing within your gates,
O Jerusalem.
3Jerusalem-built as a city that is bound firmly
together.
4To it the tribes go up,
the tribes of the LORD,
as was decreed for Israel,
to give htanks to the name
of the LORD.
5For there the thrones for judgment were set up,
the thrones of the house of David.
6Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
"May they prosper who love you.
7Peace be within your walls,
and security within your towers."
8For the sake of my relatives and friends I will say,
"Peace be within you."
9For the sake of the house of the LORD our God,
I will seek your good.
We spent worship tonight reflecting on this passage.
What does it mean to have peace in the midst of war and violence? What does it mean to be a source of peace in this midst?
I'm trying to compile my thoughts while mine and those of some others in discussion are still fresh:
There must be a clear distinction that peace is defined by and through experience. The back of the bulletin tonight had a quote from the UNESCO Constitution in
1945, "Since wars began in the [human] mind, it is in the [human] mind that the defenses of peace must be constructed."
This "invention" of ours--this continual fight over property, over land and a hand in the abundance--enough for everyone if we could just take the time to share it rather than hoarding it--if we could stall the progress of this invention, than we may have a hand in stopping it.
But as it was experience by experience that built it up, to be an acceptable regime to live under, it is experience by experience that must break it down again. Someone else mentioned in discussion that those living in war-torn countries don't know what to do when war stops--because it's all they've lived with, and so they often begin another war in the first's place, or another conflict. We live in a world where war and violence have become acceptable. There is no longer any shock in hearing our nations (or even our one nation "under God") are at war--are engaged in constant conflict with their brothers and sisters.
Experience. Shane Claibourne, and I come back to him again and again as his book is so full of living a life for God in the small, tangible experiences, shares the story of his trip to Iraq. He and a small group of friends traveled to the Middle East in the middle of conflict with no clear agenda other than to show God's love to the people of Iraq--wowing in itself. While there, they were traveling through a desert riddled with landmines and I believe that it was one exploding that sent one of the cars in their caravan into a ditch. A few passengers were badly injured, and as they tried to determine how to get them help, a car full of Iraqis happened to be driving by. It was the Good Samaritan experience. Those in the car helped the Shane and the other travelers to the nearby town to get to the hospital for treatment and gave them a place to stay and rest in their home.
They turned to Shane, knowing his mission there, and thanked him--saying (and I guess, having returned the book to the next reader at the library) "I know you serve a God of peace. I have great faith in such a God, and I hope you will work to spread the knowledge of such a God to those in your country, because we serve the same God here in Iraq and we do not know either why we are in this war."
And all I can do is sit back in awe. Mother Theresa lived her words, "We are not called to do great things but to do small things with great love." I think all of us in mind of peace seek to do these things, and want to do them. If someone were to turn to us for help, we would gladly give it, but when we do not know the "things to do" because so many crowd our attention until we are numb, and we fall back into a routine of the daily things that need to be done.
An image I often use with Wesley's theology of perfection in love and sanctifying grace is that of a young child. As children try on the clothes of their parents, baggy and ill-fitting, and look in the mirror in awe and trying to understand how they might possibly ever grow up to look or act or be like their parents...so we too look at God. We stare in the mirror with our greatest parent, God our Father, standing behind us with his hand on our shoulder and we look at our ill-fitting clothes and wonder how we will ever fill them out to be anything like our God, but through the nurture we receive from Him, and from others, we continue to grow. We continue to inadvertently grow into the love we were first shown. Two important distinctions exist here. First, a child never grows up to be identical to the parent. They share common characteristics but the child is an individual and rightly so. Their independent decisions will shape them in ways separate from the experiences of their parents. And second, because of these separate gifts and graces, a child never truly fills those same shoes they tottered in in childhood. We will never truly be perfect in love as our God is, but we continue on the path to meet that goal.
The Chicago Temple--tallest church in the world and United Methodist to boot--has two sanctuaries. One is at ground level, and the second (separated from the first by levels of law and business offices as the church is located literally in the middle of one of Chicago's busiest business sections of towns--right by State Street shopping) is at the level of a skyscraper--"the sky-high chapel." An image on the altar of the ground level sanctuary shows the scene of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem and wanting peace for his people. The chapel shows the scene again, this time with Jesus weeping over Chicago. The pastor shared the church's intention to show that Jesus weeps for the peace, truly, for all his people. Jerusalem represents the center we return to, the central conviction of our search for peace.
As Jesus weeps, we cry too. And we try to do our part.
Pastor Weatherly shared the words of a professor who told his class that "The Fall was the greatest thing that happened to humanity, because without it, we would never have had any cause to seek salvation." Because we have fallen, and our brothers and sisters have fallen with us, we continue to seek salvation. We continue to seek peace.
For myself, this means taking off the blinders and taking a good look around me. I turn first to prayer.
Grace & peace, to any who may happen upon this, in the name of our risen savior and perfector in faith, Jesus Christ. :)
Thursday, November 22, 2007
2. A mentality of abundance
Case 1: A mentality of scarcity
-A man hoards his possessions, and continues to hoard, afraid that something will happen rendering him helpless. In the meantime, he loses his relationships because the money for presents goes to more possessions and more importantly, the time for the development of relationships goes into a feeling of need for time alone.
-A mother wants the best for her children. She wants the best schools with the best teachers and best resources. What she wants is not wrong. However, when a millage comes up for inter-district busing so that lower-income students may attend her child's new school, she votes no because she's afraid that what her child has will be lost if it is shared among too many.
-Studies, as well as common knowledge, show that our world has more than enough food and clean water for everyone. Yet, billions are spent on territory disputes and very few are spent on distribution.
What others are on your mind?
Case 2: A mentality of abundance
-A man comes home from work exhausted and wanting to go immediately to bed. His child asks him for help with his homework, and he considers saying no, but he said no the night before. He decides to help and becomes far more awake in the process. The memory will stick longer than the short rest he may have received.
-A mother and grandmother works sixty-hour work weeks to buy small gifts for family members and friends, often small cards for holidays. She comes home every night exhausted and ready for a massage, but never ceases to shriek in response to new pregnancies, marriages, births, acceptances, promotions, discoveries, etc. of family and friends--in fact, she seeks them out. She maintains relationships. She finds the time for gatherings.
-A small church raises more than $2000 for hunger solution ministries.
How does this mentality present a challenge as well as strengthen your approach to ministry?
Phew. I'm ready for Case 2. Sign me uuuuuuup!
KA Ideas to Research:
a)Hispanic Ministry-in-state or Texas
b)Something Simple-Way-esque
c)Honduras or Guatemala-hunger ministry mission
d)And the thoughts continue...
Grace & Peace!
-A man hoards his possessions, and continues to hoard, afraid that something will happen rendering him helpless. In the meantime, he loses his relationships because the money for presents goes to more possessions and more importantly, the time for the development of relationships goes into a feeling of need for time alone.
-A mother wants the best for her children. She wants the best schools with the best teachers and best resources. What she wants is not wrong. However, when a millage comes up for inter-district busing so that lower-income students may attend her child's new school, she votes no because she's afraid that what her child has will be lost if it is shared among too many.
-Studies, as well as common knowledge, show that our world has more than enough food and clean water for everyone. Yet, billions are spent on territory disputes and very few are spent on distribution.
What others are on your mind?
Case 2: A mentality of abundance
-A man comes home from work exhausted and wanting to go immediately to bed. His child asks him for help with his homework, and he considers saying no, but he said no the night before. He decides to help and becomes far more awake in the process. The memory will stick longer than the short rest he may have received.
-A mother and grandmother works sixty-hour work weeks to buy small gifts for family members and friends, often small cards for holidays. She comes home every night exhausted and ready for a massage, but never ceases to shriek in response to new pregnancies, marriages, births, acceptances, promotions, discoveries, etc. of family and friends--in fact, she seeks them out. She maintains relationships. She finds the time for gatherings.
-A small church raises more than $2000 for hunger solution ministries.
How does this mentality present a challenge as well as strengthen your approach to ministry?
Phew. I'm ready for Case 2. Sign me uuuuuuup!
KA Ideas to Research:
a)Hispanic Ministry-in-state or Texas
b)Something Simple-Way-esque
c)Honduras or Guatemala-hunger ministry mission
d)And the thoughts continue...
Grace & Peace!
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
1. "Live simply so that others may simply live"
How many times have I heard this? How many times have I made a commitment to myself that I will not overspend, that I will not committ to the consumer economy, that I will not buy more things? But I do, and we all do, because even where our personal commitment lives on, other continue in the familiarity of our consumer-based world, and we're drawn back in.
I'll start simple. Even as the mood strikes, it is impractical to pack up all my things, donate them and live as John Wesley did with two changes of clothing and little else--and obviously he wasn't the first if any focus is given to saint and prophets, and before them, Jesus, and before him, the Old Testament patriarchs. For one thing, people would say I stunk. For another, it's my senior year. For yet another, no one would let me. (Get where I'm going here?)
Starting with this next week, I'll set aside or dispose of one thing a day. I may throw away a folder of papers I haven't glanced at in years or set aside clothes for Goodwill that no longer fit, nor likely will again, or set aside a gift that I have never used to give to a friend who many not only have use of it but for whom it truly would be a gift.
It's a simplifying process, one thing at a time.
My second response is to a consumer-driven Christmas. It will not win the peace of my Advent this year. $100. That's all I will spend. I have finally come to the realization that I'll be hard-pressed to change others who may buy me gifts but I can change the gifts I give and the time I put into them. I can break out the knitting needles and learn how to knit a scarf without holes. I can break out the rolling pin and make tins of baked goods for the family. I can create something meaningful and long-lasting for the children of the family--or buy them books that last.
This will not be a Christmas that produces a pile of unworn clothes, broken toys and meaningless gifts. The time I put into the season will NOT consist of staring into shop windows and wondering when the hole in my wallet first appeared.
I will be careful with the resources God has given me and generous with their fruits. I will not feel guilty. This will not be another dead resolution.
One thing. One place to start.
Grace & Peace!
I'll start simple. Even as the mood strikes, it is impractical to pack up all my things, donate them and live as John Wesley did with two changes of clothing and little else--and obviously he wasn't the first if any focus is given to saint and prophets, and before them, Jesus, and before him, the Old Testament patriarchs. For one thing, people would say I stunk. For another, it's my senior year. For yet another, no one would let me. (Get where I'm going here?)
Starting with this next week, I'll set aside or dispose of one thing a day. I may throw away a folder of papers I haven't glanced at in years or set aside clothes for Goodwill that no longer fit, nor likely will again, or set aside a gift that I have never used to give to a friend who many not only have use of it but for whom it truly would be a gift.
It's a simplifying process, one thing at a time.
My second response is to a consumer-driven Christmas. It will not win the peace of my Advent this year. $100. That's all I will spend. I have finally come to the realization that I'll be hard-pressed to change others who may buy me gifts but I can change the gifts I give and the time I put into them. I can break out the knitting needles and learn how to knit a scarf without holes. I can break out the rolling pin and make tins of baked goods for the family. I can create something meaningful and long-lasting for the children of the family--or buy them books that last.
This will not be a Christmas that produces a pile of unworn clothes, broken toys and meaningless gifts. The time I put into the season will NOT consist of staring into shop windows and wondering when the hole in my wallet first appeared.
I will be careful with the resources God has given me and generous with their fruits. I will not feel guilty. This will not be another dead resolution.
One thing. One place to start.
Grace & Peace!
One Thing
This is an idea that first came to me in response to an emerging idea throughout Shane Claibourne's Irresistible Revolution of the "one thing" we do each day, the "one thing" each moment should be centered on--our relationship with God--and how the rest of our lives should center on this.
I put this idea away for awhile and came back to it in response to a Candidacy session centering around grace and our personal responses through devotions and spiritual formation (titled "Grace: Spiritual Formation through Inner Disciplines").
The other focus bringing me to this exercise is a Kingdom Assignment through our local church. I have $100 to spend in God's ministry, no specifications other than that I must report back to the congregation. In my struggle to find one thing that I am most called to do--since I also having a growing sense that this is not meant only to grow God's money but to grow myself and push me out of my comfort zone--I have already missed the first reporting date as I continue to discern. I feel a growing pressure to report but also to remain true to another and greater responsibility to grow the money given to me by God for his purpose.
So, returning to the idea of "One Thing." This one thing may be my response to something I've heard, read or done. It may be one thing I've committed to do. But it is a growth process foremost--to write one thing in response to some driving question in my mind. I committ to 100 entries, but it will continue beyond that as the Spirit moves.
Grace & Peace!
I put this idea away for awhile and came back to it in response to a Candidacy session centering around grace and our personal responses through devotions and spiritual formation (titled "Grace: Spiritual Formation through Inner Disciplines").
The other focus bringing me to this exercise is a Kingdom Assignment through our local church. I have $100 to spend in God's ministry, no specifications other than that I must report back to the congregation. In my struggle to find one thing that I am most called to do--since I also having a growing sense that this is not meant only to grow God's money but to grow myself and push me out of my comfort zone--I have already missed the first reporting date as I continue to discern. I feel a growing pressure to report but also to remain true to another and greater responsibility to grow the money given to me by God for his purpose.
So, returning to the idea of "One Thing." This one thing may be my response to something I've heard, read or done. It may be one thing I've committed to do. But it is a growth process foremost--to write one thing in response to some driving question in my mind. I committ to 100 entries, but it will continue beyond that as the Spirit moves.
Grace & Peace!
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