Musings with PWC

Bach quite frequently used the following inscription at the end of his compositions:   SDG. You can see Bach's signature and the SDG in the image.        He wrote his musical pieces—“to the Glory of God alone.”  This is interesting as it does something quite extraordinary for us.   It seems to disallow this business we have of that which is ‘sacred’ and that which is ‘ordinary.’   Case in point.  I was raised to honour the Sabbath and keep it holy.  This simply meant no playing sports (for example) on Sunday.  Why?  Because “Sunday” was the new “Sabbath.”  And, honouring means a clear distinction of ‘sacred or holy’ compared to ‘ordinary.   What then are we supposed to do?  We act “in Christ”. It is like everything we do is sacred and spiritual because we are in Christ.  Everything is SDG!  We are living life "in Christ,"  as "we embrace a...

Some mystics would use the term self-love. Being infatuated with yourself and thinking too much of yourself. It is processing life and all situations through your own lens. Think nothing of yourself, and that act of forgetting yourself, and NOT thinking of yourself, will be filled with God and God’s love and presence. The act of forgetting about yourself is of great importance on your journey. “True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.” (C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: HarperOne, 2001), 109.) Think of this: every thought of not thinking about yourself creates space for God. Every action of not prioritizing yourself creates space for God. As you practice this, you will create more and more room for God. Then, what you craved before will be received. What I mean is this. Self-love finds its roots in personal happiness, fulfillment, and peace. However, self-love cannot achieve those things. They are achieved through total surr...

Why do you trust in yourself? You trust in your own abilities. You believe you can accomplish things for My kingdom by your own efforts. You even believe you are a good “repenter.” You trust your ability to repent. You trust your ability to weep. You trust your ability to look after your own soul. You trust your thinking and belief. You even trust your own self-effacement. Most of that is rooted in pride. They are rooted in your own abilities. They are not rooted in grace. They are not rooted in me. You are too often like the prodigal returning from the pigpen with these ‘offers.’ He has worked this all out. He was going to work his way back into good favour with his father. Luke 15:17-20 (NIV ) “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.  I am no longer worthy to be called your son; ma...

Psalms 42:7 (ESV) 7 Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. I bless you, my child, with deepness. It is within the deepness of your interior that I dwell. It is within the deepness of your spirit that I dwell. It is there I speak. It is there we communicate. I bless you with knowing deepness. I bless you with sensing deeply. I bless you with feeling deeply. I bless you with seeing deeply. There is so much shallowness in your culture. So much shallowness in your life. But today, deep is calling unto deep. Do you hear Me? Do you sense Me? Deep is calling unto deep.

  Luke 9:18 (NIV)  Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them,  “ Who do the crowds say I am? ”   Notice two things about this prayer time of our Lord Jesus.   First, Jesus was praying in private. He was alone, by himself.  The same term is used in  Mark 4:10 (NIV)  When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables.   Second, his disciples were with him   With him means: “to come together, to stand at one's side”. Same word is used in  Acts 22:11  My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.     So, Jesus is somehow alone yet his disciples were with him, standing at his side, or somewhere in proximity.  It is like Jesus is expressing something that crossed his mind in his praying.  He appears to kind of direct his thoughts to his disciples while he was in prayer ...

  Letter by Letter A LONG time ago, I took typing in grade 10.  We sat down at a desk with a manual typewriter, and adjusting the kerosene wick—joking about the kerosene—we began to type the letter “A” with your left pinkie finger and the letter “Y” with the index finger of your right hand (not joking about the manual typewriter). Boring!  But that is how it began.  Bit by bit, you added more letters with the correct finger and later, much later, you could fly across the typewriter, writing paragraphs and eventually entire letters or stories.  But you won’t forget where you started from—typing one letter!   God’s will and God’s way are like that.  It seems God gives you a letter—-not even a word, much less a sentence, and hardly a paragraph!  Occasionally, you will get the full picture, but more often than not, just a letter.  Just a sense.  Just a thought.  Just a verse.  What do you do with one letter?  Keep pract...