Introducing: Mrs. Jennafer Ort

Mrs. Jennafer Ort

Over the next two weeks you'll get to know Jennafer (or Jenna as we called her) Ort - who came to UW-L in the summer of 2013 to attend UW-L's Occupational Therapy program. Jenna is one of the most extroverted and playful students I've ever met - in fact - she taught me a thing or two when it comes to just how awesome play is. The first time I ever hung out with Jenna was because she'd just moved to La Crosse and was looking for a group of Christians to hang out with. The OT program starts in June - but Jenna wasn't going to let that stop her! She sent an e-mail and we met up for fro-yo and next thing I knew - we were study buddies! Jenna has a thoughtful and intentional walk with Christ - and added much to JC's during her time in grad school.

Jenna also taught all of us in JC's about the importance of not just wishing the world were this way or that - but taking personal steps to take a stand for what's right and make it better. First we noticed that Jenna didn't eat chocolate. Not because she didn't like chocolate. Au contraire! She loves it (I mean - who doesn't - right?) Rather - she was intentionally giving up one of her favorite treats because chocolate was associated with human trafficking. This was news to all of us. So as Jenna pursued integrity - we learned too. 

Jenna has since graduated from UW-L, passed the boards, started work as an occupational therapist - and recently - Married Phil Ort (Philabuster!). They now live in Kansas City - but are still sharing insights with us - and now you. So come back next week and read more on what Jenna's learned as she dove into this huge problem that affects us all - and insights she's gained on how we can in fact impact this global problem.  

Watchman Nee

Have you heard of Watchman Nee? If you have - you'll enjoy remembering him as much as I do. If you haven't - you're in for a treat.

Watchman Nee - or Nee Shu-tsu as his given name was - was born in China in 1903. His English name was originally Henry Nee. He attended a Methodist missions school and was noted for being blessed with a particularly sharp intelligence. His own faith began though through the words and actions of a Chinese evangelist named Mrs. Dora Yu. Yu preached at a series of evangelistic meetings where Yu spoke to an audience which included Nee's mother. Nee's mother was so impacted by Yu's words that she went home and apologized to her son - a relatively unprecedented course of action. This so surprised Nee - that he also went to some of these meetings and was himself profoundly impacted by what he heard. He went home and spent hours wrestling with what it meant to come to Christ ... here are his own words on the matter from his biography.

On the evening of 28th April, 1920, I was alone in my room, struggling to decide whether or not to believe in the Lord. At first I was reluctant but as I tried to pray I saw the magnitude of my sins and the reality and efficacy of Jesus as the Saviour. As I visualized the Lord's hands stretched out on the cross, they seemed to be welcoming me and the Lord was saying, "I am waiting here to receive you." Realizing the effectiveness of Christ's blood in cleansing my sins and being overwhelmed by such love, I accepted him there. Previously I had laughed at people who had accepted Jesus, but that evening the experience became real for me and I wept and confessed my sins, seeking the Lord's forgiveness. As I made my first prayer I knew joy and peace such as I had never known before. Light seemed to flood the room and I said to the Lord, "Oh, Lord, you have indeed been gracious to me."

On the evening of 28th April, 1920, I was alone in my room, struggling to decide whether or not to believe in the Lord. At first I was reluctant but as I tried to pray I saw the magnitude of my sins and the reality and efficacy of Jesus as the Saviour. As I visualized the Lord's hands stretched out on the cross, they seemed to be welcoming me and the Lord was saying, "I am waiting here to receive you." Realizing the effectiveness of Christ's blood in cleansing my sins and being overwhelmed by such love, I accepted him there. Previously I had laughed at people who had accepted Jesus, but that evening the experience became real for me and I wept and confessed my sins, seeking the Lord's forgiveness. As I made my first prayer I knew joy and peace such as I had never known before. Light seemed to flood the room and I said to the Lord, "Oh, Lord, you have indeed been gracious to me."

On the evening of 28th April, 1920, I was alone in my room, struggling to decide whether or not to believe in the Lord. At first I was reluctant but as I tried to pray I saw the magnitude of my sins and the reality and efficacy of Jesus as the Saviour. As I visualized the Lord's hands stretched out on the cross, they seemed to be welcoming me and the Lord was saying, "I am waiting here to receive you." Realizing the effectiveness of Christ's blood in cleansing my sins and being overwhelmed by such love, I accepted him there. Previously I had laughed at people who had accepted Jesus, but that evening the experience became real for me and I wept and confessed my sins, seeking the Lord's forgiveness. As I made my first prayer I knew joy and peace such as I had never known before. Light seemed to flood the room and I said to the Lord, "Oh, Lord, you have indeed been gracious to me.

— Watchman Nee, Watchman Nee's Testimony

Nee went on to attend Yu's institute and train as a Christian worker despite still being high-school aged. However - his youthful character caught up with him and he was dismissed for laziness - and sleeping late. Nee wasn't giving up though - and sought a British missionary, Margaret Barber to mentor him. Nee was discipled by Barber until her death in 1930. She was strict with him - but appears to have taught him much. Nee matured, and became notoriously self-disciplined. When Barber passed she left all her possessions to him. 

While Nee received essentially no formal Bible training - he did study the Bible in depth - and read many works on it - sought the teaching of the best of the Bible teachers he had access to - and prayed fervently. This would not be the recommended path of education today - but this was the path that Nee took. He wrote many books - including one in which he detailed his Bible study methods in a book he creatively called "How to Study the Bible". 

Nee had extraordinary energy and enthusiasm for continuing to study and grow - as well as to serve and minister. Many who worked with him declared him a man who could do it all. Nee also suffered much - not only because he was unwilling to compromise on his beliefs - but because a Chinese citizen during WW2 - he lived through an extremely turbulent and dangerous time in Asian history. He was frequently detained, harassed, and suffered the pangs of lack - lack of housing, warmth, food - and health care. He had significant health issues which further complicated his situation. Despite all this - he spoke all over China and authored at least 40 books. 

That all said - Nee was instrumental to growing the Chinese church - and was effectively the Chinese Billy Graham. This afforded him many opportunities to travel and speak - until that is he came under increasing scrutiny of the newly formed Communist government - until he was finally arrested and imprisoned in 1952. He was convicted through testimony provided under duress by some of his closest friends, ministry partners and associates - some of whom also lost their lives.

His wife was the only person allowed to visit him while he was imprisoned. He was frequently tortured and suffered unimaginably until he passed away while still detained in 1972. His wife was informed of his death after the fact and allowed to collect his remains. 

Nee had some ideas - which were summarily rejected by the wider world - foremost among these was his idea that there could only be one authoritative local church - his. It is hard to say to what degree this idea came from his self-directed education in theology. A more thorough and formal education would have not hurt him. What remains is that he was passionately committed to the cause of Christ and the history of the Christianity in China cannot be considered apart from him or his work. He endured terrible suffering even before his arrest and long imprisonment - yet never denied Christ. Though I do not agree with all of his theology - I find him a commendable example and an exemplary role-model of someone who unflinchingly surrendered their whole life to Christ regardless of the cost.

You can read more about Watchman Nee here - which links to watchmannee.org. I also pulled some information from Devotional Classics - a book on many Christians by Richard Foster and James Bryan Smith, Wikipedia 

Mr. Patrick Ng - Creator of the Chronodex

Dozens of times a day - I flip open my journal to record some tidbit - this diagram - has an impact on people around me. As soon as they see it - they can't stop themselves from asking "what's that?" I get it - that was my first reaction too.  So - here's the scoop on the Chronodex.

It's a modified clock-face and was created by Patrick Ng - who has a beautiful blog-post about it which I highly recommend you check out here. 

Mr. Ng created the chronodex at a time when his father's health was failing and his family was struggling with all that means. He used his art - heavily influenced by his dad's love of art and Chinese heritage - to create something different - a way to track time that wasn't the typical boring vertical list from whatever-o'-clock in the a.m. you wake up until the end of your day. He played around with a few ideas and landed on the chronodex. Though Ng is a professional graphic designer in the UK - he impressively generates free downloadable and printable yearly calendars of the chronodex. Here's this years. The generosity of making this visually stunning design so readily available really inspires me.

So - there's nothing magical about it - it's just a way to track time - but it is a very different way visually to track time - and as someone who's fairly visual - I really like it. I started using it back when I was still sick to record the various things I was doing to improve my health - and how well those things were working. Later - as I started feeling better - I used it to plan and track my time and attempt to not bite off more than I could chew and cause a relapse. Because I not only like the way it looks - but like drawing it - I trace it daily into my journal and fill it out as I go through my day. I record some of the same and some different things now than I did when I first started using it - but it's become a kind of artsy, meditative point in my day to draw it out.

The chronodex has really caught on in some sectors - and has a quite a community on-line. There are articles about it - like this one at LifeHacker.

There's a Facebook Page about it (which I just liked) - you can see the page here. If you go there - you'll see that many of the posts/posters use a specific kind of notebook - called a Midori notebook ... which is like a Moleskin notebook - on steroids. Feel free to google image search Midori notebooks - but I'm warning you - that's like journal-crack. You might need a buddy to make sure you don't fall down that rabbit hole forever.

Of course - I LOVE journals, and all things journal-crack and so of course I can't not link you to the Chronodex flickr page! You're welcome. Now that I'm freshly inspired - I'm going to play around too - so many cool ideas here! My favorite is the one above - drawn by Mr. Patrick Ng himself - that blends into/turns into a mind-map. Sweet. 

I don't have to use a Chronodex - but I think it looks cool - and I've been using it for a few years now - and love being able to go back and relive days to a large degree based on my chronodex notes. Mr. Ng is a talented artist with loads of stunning work - drawings, photography and more - I encourage you to take a relaxing stroll through his blog and look at some of the things he's produced. It's visually satisfying.

Cool Person Alert: Athanasius of Alexandria

Athanasius - born to well-to-do Christian parents in Alexandria at a time when Alexandria was the center of trade in the Roman Empire and in most ways epitomized not only the diversity of it but many of its ideals. His parents gave him an excellent secular education and some of his teachers were leaders of the church who were later targeted for martyrdom in the tenth and last persecution by Roman pagans of Christians in the Roman Empire. This experience surely influenced Athanasius' own life as a leader of the church in Alexandria and beyond. Perhaps he even drew courage from his teachers' martyrdom when he faced his own perils including threats on his life and five times being exiled. Athanasius had been taught by bold men how to not back down - though it's generally thought he wasn't particularly tactful or diplomatic.

Regardless, Athanasius was apparently a credit to his formal education and self-education in Scripture because no sooner had he completed it - but he began to quickly establish himself as a theological force to reckon with in the church in Alexandria. He became especially known for his commitment to argue eloquently against ideas of that day that were in some cases and places considered orthodoxy. Athanasius believed that it was only due to less educated believers generally under-appreciating the centrality of these pseudo-orthodoxies to the power of salvation itself.

While Athanasius disliked many of the teachings of that day that relied on pagan philosophy to support their arguemnts no idea of that era epitomized all that Athanasius considered heretical than that promoted by a Presbyter of Alexandria named Arius. Arius taught and led a school of theology that believed that the Son of God did not always exist - but had at some point had been begotten by God - and therefore was subordiniate to God. This idea became known as Arianism. Arianism was widely accepted at one time - and stood opposed to the idea of Trinitarianism - which holds that idea that Jesus' could only be our means of salvation if he was fully man and fully God - and fully God meant that he'd been in existence with God from the beginning. This is actually such a gross simplification of the beliefs and arguments that if you're interested at all you'll want to dig in much deeper. This post deals with Athanasius himself more than the theology he taught.

Athanasius' adult life was almost entirely dedicated to the above conflict - and it was because of the political and theological forces that spanned all across the Roman Empire - that he was exiled not once - but 5 times - for his outspoken defense of this view that is so easily taken for granted by us today. It is nearly impossible for us to imagine today the storms of confusion that raged among the leaders of the Church in the centuries that followed the passing of the Apostles as they dissected and parsed out every imaginable nuance of the New Testament writings to divide out these larger questions. They struggled mightily with each other to identify all the very terms we still are eager to make plain - salvation, forgiveness, heaven, propitiation, and all the rest - as well as what was at really at stake behind every notion of each of these terms and the aspects of Christian faith that they underpin. Despite their having the tremendous advantage of fluency in the languages the Apostles wrote in - they had a blank slate before them when it came to "precedence" for comprehending these terms' essence. This was as complex for them as it is for us now thousands of years later - and at the time of Athanasius of Alexandria's leadership - even orthodoxy wasn't orthodoxy.

Though Athanasius is considered a founding leader or even saint of many of the ancient churches of Christianity around the Mediterranean - he was not always saintly in his pursuit of his ideals and the power that ensured he could continue to promote them to the widest audiences. This meant that there were disputes about his election as 20th Bishop of Alexandria - regarding his not even being 30 yet. Some accused him of stealing grain from the church for money which he used for his own purposes. One of his exiles was a result of his refusing a direct order from the Emperor Constantine to receive Arius into fellowship again. Some of Constantine's purpose in holding the Council of Nice was to address this conflict between Athanasius and Arius and Arius even signed the Nicean Creed. Those who couldn't find other grounds to dismantle Athanasius' arguments against Arianism resorted to belittling his race and stature and called him a "Black Dwarf" Needless to say this fight between differing schools of theological thought was an ugly one and I think if you dug in deep enough you'd have the makings of a Jason Bourne meets Hotel Rwanda sort of movie. The conflict - even if we don't know it precisely - still echoes today - even if the vast majority of modern Christians can't imagine a non-trinitarian view.

All told Athanasius of Alexandria spent approximately 14 years in exile (336-338, 341-346, 356-359, 362-363 and 363-366) His exiles varied in severity and hostility - three out of the five exiles were at the direction of the Emperor - two for holding opposing theological views (Constantine and Valens) and one, Julian, for just not liking Christianity. There were two ten year periods when Athanasius produced most of his writings - between 346 and 356 and again between 363 and 373 - as apparently during his last exile he was still able to freely communicate, study and write. He died at home in his own bed surrounded by friends and supporters on May 2nd, 373, between the age of 75-79 (dates for his birth vary). 

So - without judgement - because after all - I'm not a historian - but rather more of a tourist at this point in my pursuit of understanding the history of the Church - here's the life of one who deserves remembrance - if not even a closer look - and at least as someone who does hold with Trinitarian theology - my gratitude for a heroic fight that put Athanasius' life at risk his whole life. I'm encouraged by this ancient Brother's courage to love the Word of God, to study it well, and to devote his life to its truth.

Resources:

Read a Christianity Today article in their Christian history blog on Athanasius by clicking

To start reading Athanasius of Alexandria's writings for yourself - brew a pot of coffee and start here.

The Wikipedia article on Athanasius lists all the churches which recognize him - each of those has volumes of information dedicated to his life and work. His life was remarkably well documented.

Cool Person Alert: Kahlil Gibran

In the late 19th century a teen-aged boy, named Khalil Gibran, born into a poor Lebanese Christian family immigrated to the United States - and continued writing poetry - but with such support as to become the third most famous poet of all time.  A clerical error at his school in his new country inaccurately recorded his name as Kahlil. Like many such school errors - it stuck.  He's known today nearly the world over as Kahlil Gibran.

So much of what you'll read today will be freshly minted quips, sound-bites and tid-bits - duly dated and thrown up in the social-stratosphere - but when did you last read the words of such globally appreciated poet - words that are timeless, deep ... resonant.  Too much of what we'll read today will be looked upon as "too old to be relevant" tomorrow - but Gibran's insights so beautifully expressed beckon to us with as gripping and fresh power today as they did when they were penned a century and a quarter ago half a world away.  Actually - perhaps it's because Gibran was born on one continent - and then immigrated to another - and studied both art and poetry that his words and images do in fact cut through so many of the trappings and limitations of the mad love we have of the ever newer, glitzier, blingy-ier.  He deftly exposes the permanent and everlasting nature of being human and pursuing the Divine - of being in search of a meaningful life so much so that what he created still speaks.

Kahlil was born relatively late in his mother Kamilah's life for the time - when she was 30.  His father, Girbran Khalil Gibran, was his mother's third husband - details about his parent's lives isn't particularly easy to come by.  His maternal grandfather was a priest in the Maronite Catholic tradition and the church continued to play a vital role in the Girbran household.  Due to previous marriges (Kamilah's dowry was gone) Gibran's were so poor that they could not afford to send little Khalil to school - so occasionally priests would visit the home and teach tutor him individually.  In 1891 Khalil's father was arrested and imprisoned for charges sometimes recorded as tax evasion, other times as embezzlement. His mother - unsure of his future and therefore theirs - made arrangements to immigrate to the United States to join her brother in Boston.  Gibran Khalil Gibran was released before the family left - but did not go to the US with them - rather stayed behind in Lebanon.

Once in the US Khalil's - now Kahlil's - talents in art and poetry gained him the attention of notable artists as he was highly skilled and talented in both of these very different areas of creative expression.  In 1904 Gibran had his first exhibition of original artwork - which led to him meeting Mary Elizabeth Haskell, whose patronage and support played a crucial role in his career - which led him to eventually become the third most published poet of all time - after Shakespeare and Laozu.  His most famous publication was released in 1921 and was called The Prophet - which wasn't initially received terribly well - but gradually gained steam until by the 30's he was a house-hold name.  His work enjoyed a resurgence of popularity during the 60's and he's still celebrated today in Lebanon as a literary hero. 

Gibran's Christianity - which was rooted in the experience of being part of a minority faith community in the predominantly Muslim Lebanon - figured centrally in many of his writings and works of art.  Perhaps because he had this formative experience of being "other" so often - he tapped into that universal experience of otherness we all feel from time to time.  Today - where it seems only the negative interactions between Christianity and Islam get much press - Gibran's work - replete with so many familiar themes to so much of the world and which so casually reflects a childhood brought up essentially peaceably beside Islam reads especially other-worldly for its ability to bridge misunderstanding with hope and peace. In fact it somehow seems to beckon us to a deepen our own connection with God wherever we might initiate that connection. 

Gibran Kahlil Gibran died at the age of 48 in 1931 of cirrhosis of the liver and tuberculosis. Though his life was shorter than many would have liked - by the time of his death he'd already produced over 700 works of art, and written published dozens of books of prose and poetry - before 1918 mostly in Arabic and after that time mostly in English.

Cool Person Alert: George MacDonald - Part 1

What do C. S. Lewis, Elizabeth Elliott, Lewis Carroll, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, J.R.R. Tolkien, Oswald Chambers, Madeleine L'Engle, Walt Whitman, G. K. Chesterton and a host of others all have in common?  They were all impacted by the Scottish poet, minister and early Christian fantasy author George MacDonald. 

George MacDonald was born on December 10th 1824 in Aberdeenshire Scotland. Though his father was a farmer he was a prolific reader and his mother received a classical education and was also a prolific reader.  Numerous relatives on both sides of MacDonald's family were scholars of various areas of literature.  While MacDonald's own upbringing was essentially Calvinist - his extended family was far from constrained to that one point of view - in fact - MacDonald's family's faith views were as disparate as his family's reading tastes.

In 1850 MacDonald became the pastor of Trinity Congregational Church in Arundel - but his sermons were focused on God's love and his salary was cut in half.  He left there and moved to Manchester to work as a minister - but his health forced him to resign and relocate to Algiers for a year to recuperate.  Soon after a brief return to Scotland the family began to split their time between their anscestral northern home - and a new one in southern Italy - in hopes of easing not only George's health troubles - but his daughter's.  Alas the move was too late for his daughter.  It was after this season that MacDonald began writing poetry and children's stories and fairy tales - but eventually becoming an early fantasy writer.  Some of his best known works are The Princess and the Goblin, Phantastes, The Golden Key and others. All of his children's stories were highly allegorical. His work drew the attention of Lady Byron who became his friend and offered financial support.  Eventually Queen Victoria herself awarded him a government pension. 

One of MacDonald's most popular children's stories was The Princess and the Goblin - and was even made into an animated film which you can watch on YouTube.

He also wrote a number of sermons eventually published in a single volume containing all 3 series called "Unspoken Sermons."  (which is available as a free e-book on Amazon - click here)  Whether due to his literate upbringing, or the variety of his family member's beliefs - or even influenced by his family's persecution in the Masacre of Glen Coe in 1692 in which as many as 38 of George MacDonald's direct ancestors and clansmen were murdered - MacDonald is consistently pragmatic in his convictions.  He seems to have less time for dogma and more interest in staying the coarse in his own daily walk and demonstrating this unshakable nature of his faith to those he mentored, such as Lewis Carroll - who developed his Alice in Wonderland story by telling it to MacDonald's eleven children. 

MacDonald's writing talents are simply too diverse to cover in one post - so this will serve as an introductory post and highlight his children's books - later posts will look at his poetry, sermons and other writings.  His earlier years were lean times - in which he and his wife struggled to support their growing family.  His own fragile health contributed to the financial tensions.  The family's move from Scotland to Italy. His work eventually secured the interest of Lady Byron - who offered him and his family her financial support.  Later his work even earned him the respect of Queen Victoria - enough so that she personally awarded him a government pension.  MacDonald traveled several times to the U.S. where he befriended Longfellow and Whitman among others who influenced not only US 19th century culture - but faith culture. I've been picking up, reading, taking notes on MacDonald's writings, dropping those off and picking up more in an effort to prepare for this post - and have come to the conclusion that the enormity of both the volume and diversity of his work - as well as his influence commands multiple posts.  Even this short-time of concentrated exposure to his work has made a life long fan out of me.  If you'd like a short place to start reading MacDonald - I recommend this devotional book "The Best of George MacDonald".  

Cool Person Alert: Hannah Whitehall Smith

Some of you have heard of Hannah Whitehall Smith.  Some of you are about to.

For reference - here's who we're talking about today:  

obviously ... she's hipster

Smith - born nearly two hundred years ago - in Philedelphia was a Quaker.  Quakers were generally terrific pragmatists and Smith was no exception.  Because her entire personal theology grew out of the soil of her classic saying (above) "God is enough." she saw her primary role to living out that "enough" was through - not just submission - but surrender.  She used that personal surrender as a means - not to life long torture, denial, misery or any other such - but as a means to illuminating the path of truth to God's purpose for all.  If she didn't completely understand a promise in scripture - she would ask herself - for instance - if she was understanding that passage through the "I must" of obligatory duty or if she was understanding it through the "I get to" of love (though her way of writing that was "may I") 

This simple distinction shouldn't be rushed over or glossed over.  Too quickly we are satisfied - in this age of one minute Bibles, and one-minute sermons and one-minute prayer ... we can be tricked by our appreciation for speed into underappreciating the tenacity of this woman who meditated, pondered, ruminated, and in all other ways teased apart and reconstructed scripture over and over until she understood it in a way that was like receiving a shot of God's love straight from His own heart.  All other interpretations - however convenient - were inferior to the one that reminded her of God's incredible love for her.  This unrelenting pursuit of a deeper comprehension of God's love through filtering all of God's word through that lens led to a curious result in Smith's life.

Smith was happy.  

No I mean really happy.  Ridiculously, enviably, and notably happy - in the midst of hard labor, a daunting schedule, farming by hand, travel by horses, no internet, petticoats and shoes - SHOES I tell ya! - with more buttons than the space station! (well ... practically) - her happiness began to attract attention.  A lot.

So much so - she was encouraged on all sides to explain herself.  So she did.  Her explanation led to more demands that she explain herself - and so it went until finally she sat down and wrote it all out in a book - which has failed to go out of print.  Her book - called The Christian's Secret to a Happy Life" 

Before sharing her message of understanding obedience totally through God's love and our loving God - she describes life this way:

"You do love your work in the abstract, but in the doing of it you find so  many cares and responsibilities connected with it, and feel so many misgivings and doubts at to your own capacity or fitness, that it becomes a very heavy burden, and you go to it bowed down and weary before the labor has even begun.  Then also you are continually distressing yourself about the results of your work, and greatly troubled if they are not just what you would like; and this of itself is a constant burden."

Now I know that while words like "Brexit" and "Sharenting" were all the rage in 2016 and "Uberization" looks like it's poised to leave a mark on 2017 - "Happiness" has been a big-whoopity-doo for a LOOOOONNNGG time.  And why not?  "Misery" has no pull to compare.  And I am all for being happy - especially when the alternative is a demeanor that compares to "sucking on lemons and guzzling vinegar"  I mean - I confess - I watched "The Pursuit of Happiness", read "Happiness Project" - and even the sequel.  I'm ALL FOR improvement, growth and that British baking show if that makes you smile. 

But - happiness as an end in and of it self - I believe - will fall short.  Every. Single. Time.  And - while a lot can be said for a pursuit of happiness in the midst of struggle as a way of making the best of things - I still feel compelled to point out that this word doesn't mean exactly now what it did then.  To many Quakers then - to be happy - was to feel blessed.  

The gift of this book is Smith's down-to-earth descriptions of conversations with numerous people she encountered - struggling through the difficulties of life in the mid-1800's.  Her book actually came out in 1875 - this was just a decade after the civil war ended and just two years after the financial panic of 1873 ... people were despairing.  

Also - contrary to many modern versions of the teaching that to obey God is to be blessed - some of which are just disastrous - Smith's definition of having received the "happiness of God" was that you wanted to be faithful.  In other words - to Smith - the ultimate reward for understanding God's word through the lens of love was more of God Himself.  Smith says it best herself:

"God's way of working therefore, is to get possession of the inside of us, to take the control and management of our will, and to work in it for us.  Then obedience is easy and a delight, and service becomes perfect freedom, until the Christian is forced to explain, "This happy service!  Who could dream earth had such liberty?" 

This quite a different message than some present today.  Her entire book is an argument for the trustworthiness of God.  She makes these arguments by presenting a passage - highlighting the promise therein - and then giving multiple examples of people who struggled with that very passage - but surrendered themselves to God's love and sovereignty and discovered not just love through obedience - but freedom.  

While updated versions exist with modern language - I do encourage you to try first the original - the language is different - but her voice comes through beautifully and her message will be less diluted.  

Lastly - this posts - as well as all my previous posts ... if this is as helpful to you as it was to me; thanks for stopping by.  If not; thanks for stopping by.  I am committed to pushing on regardless.

Simone Weil

There are plenty of Christians who have never heard of Simone Weil - she was European, she lived and died before many of us reading this were alive, her life was brief and her work was intense. On top of all of that - she was born Jewish. 

Simone Weil was born in Paris in 1909.  Her parents were brilliant.  Her brother, Andre, was a math prodigy.  Simone herself - while able to quote whole passages from literature by the age of 6 - saw herself as "dull".  She was recognized by French philosopher Emile-Auguste Chartier as a philosophical genius.  She completed her bachelors with honors at the age of 15 and by 1931, at the ripe age of 22, having researched philosophies in Sanskrit, Greek and Hindi, completed doctoral studies in philosophy and was qualified to teach.  

While her upbringing and education entitled her to the relative ease of academic life - she was sensitive to the shifting political winds in Europe and decided to leave her first teaching job after just a few years and instead to applied herself to understanding what it was to labor, and toil.  Though her gifts made her an intellectual giant - she was not endowed with the health or vigor that living like "everyone else" would demand.  She worked at the Renault plant for a season - living on her wages and in the same housing and conditions as the rest of her co-workers.  

In 1935 when the strife in Spain intensified - she left her job at Renault and took another teaching position - this time in Barcelona - and eventually left that post to go and serve with Franco-ites on the front in that conflict.  Though only in the strife for several weeks - the effects on her health were long lasting and forced her to return to St. Quentin girls school until her health worsened to the point that 1938 she had to stop working altogether.

Weil's family - while Jewish by ancestry was largely atheistic/agnostic and non-practicing - but Simone's interest in philosophy crossed over into realms often considered the territory of faith. But it wasn't until a friend introduced her to Father Perrin - a Dominican in Marseilles - shortly after Germany invaded France.  There in that community she began to engage in studying all the Dominicans could teach her.  At the community she was confirmed, baptized and renounced her family's wealth and position.  She became fascinated - even preoccupied with the notion a personal God and was known to hold the friars, and monks spell-bound with her spontaneous musings and teachings on the merits of obedience to God first and foremost.  To have been a fly on the wall and hear one of those discourses!

Over the next few years Weil wrote extensively - including religious works on faith and the nature of God - as well as philosophical-political works on the rights and responsibilities of nations and individuals.  

Her intellectual gifts were rare enough - but the sensitivity and moral acumen with which she applied them left a lasting impact on all she encountered.  She wrote extensively after joining the community in Marseilles - including her best known essays "Intimations of Christianity" and "Forms of the Implicit Love of God" - and filled over twenty journals with notes to be included in a book she was working on called "Waiting for God."  She had a gift for piercing through hazier aspects of life and pursuit of God and seeing through to what matters.  Of her life and writing T. S. Elliot wrote:

"We must simply expose ourselves to the personality of a woman of genius, of a kind of genius akin to that of the saints."

Of all of Weil's dozens of famous quotes and anecdotes here are my two favorites:  

"At the bottom of the heart of every human being, from earliest infancy until the tomb, there is something that goes indomitably expecting, in the teeth of all experience of crimes committed, suffered, and witnessed, that good and not evil will be done."

"A hurtful act is the transference to others of the degradation which we bear in ourselves." 

Simone Weil died on August 29th, 1943, as a result of working as a farm-hand while subsisting (in solidarity) on the rations given to her countrymen being held in Nazi concentration camps.