We reflecting of Sadhu Sundar Singh’s writings for our January 9 Spiritual Renewal smaller group. He  has been called the St Paul of India. Born in 1889 he had his own Damascus road vision of Christ as a teenager changing the trajectory of his life from Sikh to Christ follower leading to a remarkable impact on India. He said that the same spirit inspires each of us, but we produce different results, as the same breath makes different sounds with different musical instruments

Now there was a believer in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, calling, “Ananias!”“Yes, Lord!” he replied.The Lord said, “Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you arrive, ask for Saul of Tarsus. He is praying to me right now. I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying his hands on him so that he can see again.”“But Lord,” exclaimed Ananias, “I’ve heard about the terrible things this man has done to the believers in Jerusalem! And we hear that he is authorized by the leading priests to arrest every believer in Damascus.”But the Lord said, “Go and do what I say. For Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel. And I will show him how much he must suffer for me.” So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you may get your sight back and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Acts 9: 10-17 NLT

What sound is the Holy Spirit producing in our lives?

Via Out of Ur. Check it out. Except below.

When I became a Christian, I learned I didn’t have to stop buying stuff – I just had to start buying Christian stuff. An entire world of retail spending possibilities lay before me: the Christian industrial complex. There were Christian t-shirts, bumper stickers, even Christian candy (“Testa-Mints”—peppermints wrapped in a bible verse). We were taught “secular” was bad, and supplied with charts that countered popular mainstream bands with a Christian alternative. We burned our old tapes (which is what we listened to back in those days) and went with the Christian albums. We were often sadly disappointed. It just didn’t sound like Metallica. As a friend of mine quipped, “All these Christian artists say, ‘God gave me this song,’ and then you listen to it and understand why God gave it away.”

Isaac Penington on the Holy Spirit

Our spiritual formation group is using a Richard Foster resource based on the writing of Christians over the past 2000 years. The past couple of weeks we’ve reflected on Isaac Penington a 17 century Quaker

Penington is addressing a prevailing wisdom that contradicts the practice of his faith. Penington counters this wisdom by telling us to, “O Abide in the simplicity that is Christ in the naked truth that you have felt there… it is there you will be able to distinguish your food  – the flesh and blood of him who has come down from heaven”

Such clarity

Yikes, I must check my news app 5 times a day and I engage a broad range of topics from a number of sources.

A number of years ago Peter Drucker said that information would become the currency of the 21-century

Penington is saying we become that which we ingest.

Via Out Of Ur:

I. You shall not make for yourself an idol out of Scripture.

This is a particular temptation among evangelicals who hold a very high view of Scripture. We forget that our highest calling is not to have a relationship with the Bible but with Jesus Christ about whom the Bible testifies. (John 5:39)

II. You shall honor the Scriptures as sufficient.

We have a common temptation to get “behind the text” or discover what “really happened.” While archeology and other disciplines are incredibly important, we must not forget that what God has given in the Scriptures is enough for life and faith.

III. You shall remember the metanarrative and keep it wholly.

In my experience more Christians can recap the meta-narrative of the Star Wars saga than can recap the biblical meta-narrative. It’s not enough to know the stories and events in the Bible. We must know how they fit together to tell a single story.

Check out the whole list on the blog. Skye also continues the discussion in the comments thread.

Ten years ago, Anne Rice publicly declared that she had returned to faith. This meant the end of her Vampire Chronicles and new beginnings in her literary career. But many of Anne’s disputes with the church and its dogma remained, and in August she announced that she was leaving the Christian church and spurning the label ‘Christian’ while still remaining a follower of Jesus.

This makes her one of the latest high profile members of a long line of believers who, while they affirm Jesus’ life and ministry, can’t reconcile themselves to the Body of Christ. From Anne’s  Facebook page, via Christianity Today:

For those who care, and I understand if you don’t: Today I quit being a Christian. I’m out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being ‘Christian’ or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to ‘belong’ to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.

What I would like to hear from you is: Do you think this is a total cop-out? Totally necessary? Is this a message of criticism from wise disciples that needs to be heard by the church, or is it the folly of anti-social personalities who refuse to become peace makers in their own hearts? Speak out.

In August, systematic theologian Clark Pinnock died. From Christianity Today:

Clark H. Pinnock’s life journey is over. The influential and often controversial evangelical theologian died unexpectedly August 15 of a heart attack. He was 73. In March, the long-time professor of systematic theology at McMaster Divinity College in Hamilton, Ontario, had announced he was withdrawing from public life and revealed that he was battling Alzheimer’s disease.

It was a difficult admission for a man whose mercurial mind and openness to the Holy Spirit led him to stake out theological positions that challenged evangelical orthodoxies. Renowned for exploring the frontiers of biblical truth, he was reputed to study carefully, think precisely, argue forcefully, and shift his positions willingly if he discovered a more fruitful pathway of understanding. He said he preferred to be known, “not as one who has the courage of his convictions, but one who has the courage to question them and to change old opinions which need changing.”

News from back in August on religious discrimination in hiring for faith based organizations in Canada. From Christianity Today:

Can Christian organizations in Canada discriminate based on religion when hiring employees? Such groups are still attempting to figure that out, months after a court decision was supposed to answer that question.

An Ontario Divisional Court ruled in May that Christian organizations can’t take religion into account when hiring support employees. But at the same time, the decision gave Christian organizations more hiring freedoms than they had under earlier rulings, experts said.

…

Canadian law bars discriminatory hiring. However, religious organizations can claim an exemption “if they are primarily engaged in serving the interests of their religious community, where the restriction is reasonable and bona fide because of the nature of the employment,” according to the court.

What I’m curious about is should Christian organizations discriminate on the basis of religion in hiring? And if they should, how and to what extent? Do we use stated religious affiliation as the litmus test? Confirmed church attendance? Doctrinal agreement? Evidence of lifestyle? Do we even need a litmus test? Do we want one? Is there a case to be made that Christian organizations should have the fewest barriers to participation? Or do we need restrictions on employment in faith based organizations to ensure that the organization continues to fulfill its mandate and remain true to its values? What do you think?

From the Lausanne Conference, via Eugene Cho:

From Flickr user Thisismyname via boing boing:

New York Times obituary for John Yoder here: http://theology.nd.edu/people/research/yoder-john/

Stanley Hauerwas’ reflections on meeting and getting to know John and his work: http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=109