The last time I wrote an academic paper was in the '80's. We used "parenthetical citation" back then - following APA guidelines. Now I'm trying to learn the Chicago Style via my son's doctoral dissertation. David is a great writer, and I find myself looking at his footnotes and bibliography to see how things are done in 2012. Times have indeed changed! Thank goodness our children continue to teach us valuable lessons, long after they are grown up!
This is paper one of two due before May, and is partly theological in nature - pushing me to articulate in as few words as possible my current understand of God. I thought of using the word "mystery" and leaving it at that, but I suspect that might be taking "lucid brevity" to the extreme. Since I worked all day on Saturday, I will stay home tomorrow and write. Preparing for this has kept me reading (and reading) - both new and old texts. I found myself reaching for Letty Russell's book on partnership with God the other day, but I can't find it on my shelf. Sally McFague and Paul Evdokimov have been at the top of my pile of books - Evdokimov is often overlooked, but has some fascinating observations about the spiritual life, especially "interiorized monasticism." One of his quotes on the spiritual life has become one of my favorite Lenten reflections:
"In present conditions, under the burden of overwork and stress, our sensibility is changing. Medical treatment protects and prolongs life, but at the same time it lowers resistance to suffering and privations. Christian asceticism is only a method in the service of life, and it will seek to adapt itself to the new needs. In the desert of the Thebaid, extreme fasts and constraints were imposed. Today, the combat is not the same. We no longer need added pain. Hair shirts, chains and flagellation would risk uselessly breaking us. Today mortification would be liberation from every kind of addiction - speed, noise, alcohol, and all kinds of stimulants. Asceticism would be necessary rest, the discipline of regular periods of calm and silence, when one could regain the ability to stop for prayer and contemplation, even in the heart of all the noise of the world, and above all then to listen to the presence of others. Fasting, instead of doing violence to the flesh, could be our renunciation of the superfluous, our sharing with the poor and a joyful balance in all things." Evdokimov, Ages of the Spiritual Live, p 64.
Before I fell asleep last night I pondered a vocational issue that had me feeling quite blue. As I sat quietly with that issue and shared my feelings with God, I heard a very quiet "reframe" of the situation in my heart that was so profound that I quickly wrote it down on a note card and put it on my nightstand - lest I forget it. When I awoke this morning, the note card with the timely words of wisdom was still there, waiting to help me move through my day. Moving through my day was a challenge, because I couldn't bear any weight on my right knee - it has been almost a year since the knee was this bad! I wanted to get back into bed and just give up, yet I felt a quiet strength sustaining me - one painful step at a time (thank you crutches - you saved the day). And I did indeed get through the day, completing the work that needed to be done. By late afternooon I was in the recliner with my knee packed in ice, thankful that God's grace was sufficient for the day.
Perhaps I need to find a way to add to "mystery" that God is the one whose strength is sufficient for each day, and who whispers truths that are well worth writing down. Not the prose of Tillich or McFague; just the gospel of Kim.
And believe me, this is good news indeed.
If you were righting your gospel - your good news - what would you say? How would you describe your experience of God? What is the good news of your relationship with God?
Offering thanks for blessings great (strength and wisdom) and small (crutches and ice packs),
Kim
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