There's a beauty to imperfection. This is the essence of the Japanese principle of wahi-sabi. Wahi-sabi values character and uniqueness over a shiny facade. It teaches that cracks and scratches in things should be embraced. It's also about simplicity. You strip things down then use what you have. Leonard Koren, author of a book on wahi-sabi, gives this advice: Pare down to the essence but don't remove the poetry. Keep things clean and unencumbered but don't sterilize.
2. Christians tend to motivate each other by guilt rather than grace. Instead of urging our fellow believers to be who they are in Christ, we command them to do more for Christ (see Rom. 6:5-14 for the proper motivation). So we see Christlikeness as something we are royally screwing up, when we should it as something we already possess but need to grow into.
I saw a small group of people. They seemed thoughtful. You have to have a group of people who embody the kind of Christian you would be if you became a Christian. You say, "These are people like me, or people I would like to be like," and, "I see how their Christianity plays a role in their life so I can start to envy that role and maybe I would like to have it too.I find that a fascinating insight - and an important one for the church. Of course, it's not a rule. But I do think it's a helpful observation.
As Keller describes them, the justification people are all about justification by faith alone. Only after being justified can a person live as he/she ought to live. While Keller was in full agreement with this doctrine, he said the unfortunate implication for many of the justification people is the belief that "we are mainly here to do evangelism" and they view "justice as a distraction."Worth pondering.
The justice people, on the other hand, tend to downplay or completely ignore the doctrine of justification by faith. Instead they can focus on language about "defeating the powers" or seeking the renewal of communities. Also good ideas, but not if justification is lost in the mix.
Keller believes this rift between justification and justice is completely unbiblical. "Justice and justification," he said, "are joined at the hip. They are a seamless cloth."
"...worrying about the competition quickly turns into an obsession. What are they doing right now? Where are they going next? How should we react? (That mindset) leads to overwhelming stress and anxiety. That state of mind is bad soil for growing anything...When you spend time worrying about someone else, you can't spend that time improving yourself. Focus on competitors too much and you wind up diluting your own vision...(and)...You wind up offering your competitor's products with a different coat of paint." (p.148)Their words have real application to the life of the church and its mission in the world. Of course, the church needs to know the world it is engaging with, no question about that, and to know it well and deeply. But that kind of knowing is to be grounded in a settled vision (gospel) that allows for the engagement to be redemptively creative.
we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. (v.4)In his formulation, hope is at the end of the process; it grows out of the development of attested character, which is itself the product of persevering under trial.
A poem is an act of memory. Poetry was first forged out of the need to remember what would otherwise be forgotten – in an oral tradition record-keeping is an art, not an act of administration.
