A rather quick thought here.
Genesis 1
1In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
5And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
The Lord God raised dust from the newly formed earth, forming His image, and then breathed life into his lungs. Through the Word, Man is created, birthed within the confines of time. This limitation seems a strange cradle, as God exists outside of time. We, being in time, cannot understand anything outside of it. Before the heaven and the earth were created, God is.
Consider music. This creation of the Lord has meter, and yet in Heaven the four beasts sing Holy, holy, holy, LORD God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come (Revelation 4:8b). Imagine music without the institution of time. What would this canticle sound like, if the ear didn’t receive music as a sort of rhythm (vibration)?
I am reaching outside of my reading list with this back-yard-pipe-in-hand pondering.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Anglicanism, Augustine, Books, Christianity
I have accrued a reading list within the past two months. Yes this list is in order. Yes I am intimidated by City Of God.
-I Believe, Alister McGrath
-An Outline Of An Anglican Life, Louis R. Tarsitano
-A Rationale Upon the Book Of Common Prayer, Anthony Sparrow (online)
-Evangelical Is Not Enough, Thomas Howard
-Genuine Godliness and True Piety, Peter Toon.
-English Spirituality, Martin Thorton.
-Recalling the Hope of Glory, Dr. Allen Ross.
-A House For My Name, Peter Leithart.
-Confessions, Saint Augustine
-City Of God, Saint Augustine
Also, if you would like a concise taste of Lent:
Drowned In Living Waters , Nicole de Martimprey.
Hear, Lord, my prayer; let not my soul faint under Thy discipline, nor let me faint in confessing unto Thee all Thy mercies, whereby Thou hast drawn me out of all my most evil ways, that Thou mightest become a delight to me above all the allurements which I once pursued; that I may most entirely love Thee, and clasp Thy hand with all my affections, and Thou mayest yet rescue me from every temptation, even unto the end.
-Confessions, Saint Augustine
It has been said that God’s “glory” is the organized space around His throne, a picture of which we have in the scriptures. The Church’s liturgy is modeled after the ebb and flow of worship there, a place that is not merely a holy vapor, but rather has definition.
I have just returned from a two-week trip to Dallas, Texas. More on that soon. For now, I welcome you to this nearly new forum. If nothing else, it will be a deposit for my thoughts as I venture forward with — as a dear friend of mine has put it — an excitement for “the Church and the Sacraments in a new way,” and an excitement “about our God in a revived way.”
Welcome.
