Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 makes me think of that wascally wabbit Bugs Bunny. :)

I’ve had this book on my bookshelf for years, and I really love it, though I’d forgotten about it until recently. I got it down once again to read during Lent and Easter this year, and wrote about it a little bit under this goal.

Today I read the chapter on Pentecost, which is coming up soon, and so now I’ll put this book back up on the shelf for a while. Here is a short excerpt from that chapter, on “knowing the Spirit” (page 190):

The Spirit, elusive and “blowing where it will,” is not as unknown to us as we sometimes think. That we cannot confine and define its nature does not mean we do not know it. Curiously, we know and recognize the Spirit manifest in the light and liveliness, the creativity or energy, the wisdom or the reverence in the life of the other. For it is through others that the Spirit ministers to us. And it is we who can draw out the Spirit in the other. We know it less well in ourselves and squirm self-consciously when others mention our own creative Spirit. But the Spirit dwells in our hearts so that it can minister beyond itself, so it can “matter” in the life of another.”

I’ve written about it here on 43 Things.

The author, an historian, writes that a picture is worth a thousand words. This book has lots of pictures to illustrate how the image of Jesus has changed through the last two centuries, along with some words as well.

Timothy Keller, the author, is a minister at a church in New York City. He discusses the parable of the Prodigal Son and how, to him, it represents the state of the church. In the parable, the ne’er-do-well younger son decides to run away to “do his own thing,” and to turn his back on his family and community. He fails miserably, and returns home to ask for help, ashamed and repentant. At that point, his older brother, who has always been the good and responsible son, becomes resentful when their father welcomes the prodigal home with open arms and throws a big party to celebrate his return.

The author sees the problem of the older brother as equal to that of the prodigal. His holier-than-thou attitude and hard heart are just as bad as the selfishness and irresponsibility of the younger brother. And the author writes that most religious institutions, from Jesus’ day up through today, are filled with elder brothers, resentful of God’s prodigal saving grace.

A very kind friend gave me lots of fresh-picked sugar snap peas from her garden, and I had some for dinner tonight. They were delicious. :)

I’ve written about it here on 43 Things.

I’ve written about it here on 43 Things.

I’ve written about it here on 43 Things.

This book is one I found in my church library. It interests me that it was written by a Presbyterian minister, and yet I did not find a single mention of the word “God.” The first and biggest of the nine self-sabotaging mistakes that nice people make is Perfectionism, and the author says that the cure for this is to “accept your acceptance,” your “unconditional acceptance.” I must be a fairly nice yet self-sabotaging person, who needs to work on accepting my acceptance, because I seem to make all nine of the mistakes on a regular basis. The book had some good ideas that I’ve tried to put into practice, but I can see I’m going to need LOTS of practice.