Daily Archives: January 14, 2012

Down time.

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Sun at Xmas, Auckland

Its Saturday,  and  this morning I walked to get the paper with my son, who commented that I find it hard to relax. Today we are going to try.  Our agenda is to read, to swim… not to do touristy stuff.

We did that yesterday, and can do that tomorrow or the next day or the day after that.  Last year was brutal, and this year will be different.

I need to enjoy my down time.

Hebrews 4:8-13

 I 8For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not speak later about another day. 9So then, a sabbath rest still remains for the people of God; 10for those who enter God’s rest also cease from their labors as God did from his. 11Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall through such disobedience as theirs.12Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.
Now the rest the writer is talking about is not that for today. It is that which awaits us at the end of this life. And we need to continue in faith to get there…

The errors here are to rely completely on some ritual such as the “sinner’s prayer” and not even attempt to obey. This is not evangelicalism or reformed theology, it is denying the reality of this existence as the gnostics do.
The other error is to see everything as works or ritual.

Consider for a second this comment.

Well, I’m somewhat familiar with the world of gnostic-pagan-ancient witchcraft revival [because when you attend a strict religious school, teenage rebellion is reading books from the New Age section]. These spiritual movements are more pageantry, than anything of substance. A witchcraft-book will have over 100 pages explaining the proper way to sit in a magic circle.

Like the New-Age faiths, Modern Christianity spends more time on pageantry than spiritual affairs. You can’t rely on good works and faith in Christ, to ensure salvation – those virtues are irrelevant, if you’re praying the wrong way. [For example, apparently my Anglican fiance will burn in Hell, because he's praying the wrong way] & the attitude I encounter from most devout Christians,

the error here is a combination of both. There is a certain conflation of the wiccan idea of formulae: If I pray this way or that way I will be saved, and if I don’t i won’t. Well, I am fairly sure that Ratzinger himself does not say this. And since much of my theology comes from Anglicans (from CS lewis to JI Packer to Os Guiness to Pete and Samie Grieg, I am not going to damn Anglicans.

When we are saved we have the spirit. And the Holy Spirit guides us into truth. We can’t save ourselves or preserve our salvation… God does this for us.

But we must let the word get deep into our being. And part of this is times of rest: holidays and sabbaths.

So today and tomorrow I am going to chill.