Category: Yancey, Philip
Great victories won by ordinary people
A word of encouragement from Philip Yancey for those of you who wonder what difference your everyday life is making for the Kingdom of God:
I once watched a public television series based on interviews with survivors from World War II. The soldiers recalled how they spent a particular day. One sat in a foxhole all day; once or twice, a German tank drove by, and he shot at it. Others played cards and frittered away the time. A few got involved in furious firefights. Mostly, the day passed like any other day for an infantryman on the front. Later, they learned they had just participated in one of the largest, most decisive engagements of the war, the Battle of the Bulge. It did not feel decisive to any of them at the time, because none had the big picture of what was happening elsewhere.
Great victories are won when ordinary people execute their assigned tasks. . .I sometimes wish the Gospel writers had included details about Jesus’ life before he turned to ministry. For most of his adult life he worked as a village carpenter. Did he ever question the value of the time he was spending on such repetitious tasks?
Forgiveness
I just added a book to the “What I’m recommending at the moment” tab above. This is the second time I’m reading Philip Yancey’s What’s So Amazing About Grace. I have benefited from many of his books. This book is about forgiveness, full of stories and full of hope. A book that gently cuts you to the heart. Philip is never one to skirt around the difficult questions, and that’s why I appreciate him so much. I may not always agree with him, but I admire his courage.
A couple of excerpts:
Charles Williams has said of the Lord’s Prayer, “No word in English carries a greater possibility of terror than the little word ‘as’ in that clause.” [“Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”]
Henri Nouwen, who defines forgiveness as “love practiced among people who love poorly,” describes the process at work:
I have often said, “I forgive you,” but even as I said these words my heart remained angry or resentful. I still wanted to hear the story that tells me that I was right after all; I still wanted to hear apologies and excuses; I still wanted the satisfaction of receiving some praise in return–if only the praise for being so forgiving!
But God’s forgiveness is unconditional; it comes from a heart that does not demand anything for itself, a heart that is completely empty of self-seeking. It is this divine forgiveness that I have to practice in my daily life. It calls me to keep stepping over all my arguments that say forgiveness is unwise, unhealthy, and impractical. It challenges me to step over all my needs for gratitude and compliments. Finally, it demands of me that I step over that wounded part of my heart that feels hurt and wronged and that wants to stay in control and put a few conditions between me and the one whom I am asked to forgive.
Loved by Christ
In this Monday’s Office of Readings (for the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul), John Chrysostom wrote, describing St. Paul: “The most important thing of all to him, however, was that he knew himself to be loved by Christ.”
How many of us can say that about ourselves, that the most important thing of all to each of us is that we know ourselves to be loved by Christ? That reminds me of a quote I’ve shared before, but think it apt to share it with you again:
Not long ago I received in the mail a postcard from a friend that had on it only six words, “I am the one Jesus loves.” . . . When I called him, he told me the slogan came from the author and speaker Brennan Manning. At a seminar, Manning referred to Jesus’ closest friend on earth, the disciple named John, identified in the Gospels as “the one Jesus loved.” Manning said, “If John were to be asked, ‘What is your primary identity in life?’ he would not reply, ‘I am a disciple, an apostle, an evangelist, an author of one of the four Gospels,’ but rather, ‘I am the one Jesus loves.’” What would it mean, I ask myself, if I too came to the place where I saw my primary identity in life as “the one Jesus loves”? (Philip Yancey)
May the Holy Spirit, the love of Christ that has been poured out into our hearts, bring us more and more to this point.
I am the one Jesus loves
What if we could each come to the place where we saw our primary identity–as John did–as “the one Jesus loves”?
Yesterday I was looking through some quotes I had gathered for some small booklets that I have in the past put together to sell at our bazaar. As I read them, I thought to myself: “I’ve got some good quotes here!” Here’s a favorite from Philip Yancey:
Not long ago I received in the mail a postcard from a friend that had on it only six words, “I am the one Jesus loves.” . . . When I called him, he told me the slogan came from the author and speaker Brennan Manning. At a seminar, Manning referred to Jesus’ closest friend on earth, the disciple named John, identified in the Gospels as “the one Jesus loved.” Manning said, “If John were to be asked, ‘What is your primary identity in life?’ he would not reply, ‘I am a disciple, an apostle, an evangelist, an author of one of the four Gospels,’ but rather, ‘I am the one Jesus loves.’” What would it mean, I ask myself, if I too came to the place where I saw my primary identity in life as “the one Jesus loves”? (Philip Yancey)
Witnesses to Hope 