I’ve been thinking lots about the art of listening well, and what fruits it yields in us and others. Starting to see listening as a spiritual practice…wrote this on a napkin after listening deeply to a dear brother yesterday:
Listening into Love…
Listen until you sense the presence of Love for and in the other;
just then, beauty blooms, in us both
and we start telling our true stories.

Listen until you sense the presence of Love
just then, beauty blooms, every time.

The cloud of unknowing is all around us, but
what we can know of it, down here, is Love.

With him in my arms, and me in His, the party already began
now i’m just dancing down an endless aisle
with crowds of sufferers on all sides
all the way to the altar.

There are stones to remove in us
And there is a Stone to stumble on and break open upon.
Knowing which stone is which
is discernment.

Today’s jeep top sermon: just preaching’ from the jeep tops today!!! Today’s little homily circles around this:

The three cultural ways in Christ! This idea that He called Himself: the way, the truth and life! Each part appeals to different types of people or cultures.That He is meet-able and solves all three areas of human need-a path, knowledge or truth about Reality, and empowerment to live it out. In naming Himself, He appeals to all three!

The way to live, the truth about what life is, and the life or energy, and empowerment to live it out-to incarnate it in practical ways! Different cultures and even denominations tend to know Him in one area, but perhaps not another. They tend to highlight one of these three aspects of His Identity! Working on that homily today from the jeep tops of course! Someone’s got to!

I still love that Jesus named Himself as: way, truth, and life. These three ways are In Him, part of His Identity! Ultimately we need all three. A holistic christianity would include all three aspects! The birds, at least, seem to agree! Yet, each aspect of His Identity appeals to different cultures and peoples. (The way of the way, the way of truth, the way of life, He claimed to contain all three!) The way, the logos the path…the truth, the knowledge about what is Real, and the Life, the energy or power to live it out (empowered ethics!).

Christ claimed to be all three. And each culture tends to meet Him in one of these areas depending on their own collective identity. So you might ask: What part of God is already having a conversation with this culture or person? And which part is needed, or being highlighted? The Way, The Truth or the Life? Which part is He currently forming in us etc..

Just a sermon i’m working on; thought I’d start by preaching it to the birds from the Jeep top today! Next, I want to preach on rivers, ridges and rims as being the places to meet His Voice, Wisdom and the prophetic in our lives! Places of communication and connectivity, high places, and big picture places or edges of exchange, up above our lives. Coming soon, to a Jeep near you! Deep thoughts from jeep rooftops! Why not! At least I’m in the company of St Francis, minus the jeep! Tried to time this sermon today—i successfully kept it under 7 minutes! Unlike this post! I appeal to your patience!

New book, and new meditation on the importance of the imagination in our spirituality!

“In the Name of the Son: Jesus in art…
How artists from Giotto to Caravaggio have written a visual biography of Christ through the finest masterpieces in the history of art. In the Name of the Son approaches figurative art through the lens of the greatest mystery of mankind: the life of Jesus Christ.”

This art book focuses on images of Jesus through history–a daring theme, how people imaged someone who claimed to be God, over the past 2000 years or so. Nice.

The author, an italian art critic and historian, points out early on that the imagination can only paint what it believes is possible. So you see in the history of Jesus in art, only those who really believed in the resurrection, could paint it well. (Caravaggio, for instance, as an atheist, had trouble depicting the resurrection!) This is because they had faith that it happened, and so they were able to enter that exploration with the humility required to encounter its inner meaning, which is at the core of Christianity. You see Rembrandt’s work as having more light and humility on this core subject.

My mom, who also has integrated her art and spirituality, and lacks that dualism between creativity and christianity, so often present in the church, sent me this great book written by this Italian art critic, about Jesus in art: how He has been depicted historically, how each culture has attempted to image Him, often projecting their own needs or self image onto Him. It starts by noting that there are few images of the Father; the only few, have The Father peeking into the universe. But there are many of Jesus, because He is said to be the face of God on earth. Or as St Paul put it :”The exact representation of the likeness of God.” One of my favorite naming of who Jesus was, as it deals in image metaphors. And as an artist who also loves Jesus, i’ve never seen creativity and Him in separate rooms! It’s the same studio of formation in my own walk! Perhaps, my mom gave me that integrative permission!

Anyway, great meditation for a book, and well written. My mom knows what interest me! I love thinking about how people image God. For as AW Tozer pointed out, if we start with a poor image of God, the rest of our theology splinters.
I would add, if our imaginations about God are poor, so will be the rest of our spirituality. We need a true image of God, in order to even like Him.
Poverty of imagination produces a form of idolatry, in that anything less than God that we worship, any broken image of Him. becomes an idol. So we need a clear picture of who God is, even to begin!

This is another reason the imagination needs to be part of what is getting sanctified in Christian spirituality! Why creativity matters in formation or discipleship! “The fuller baptism of the imagination is basic to christian spirituality,” as CS Lewis put it. Or as I put it in another article, we are not meant to have a poverty of imagination in His church! So we can have a more accurate picture of who God is, and so who we are! Good art is accurate interpretation!

Even seeing ourselves accurately rest in seeing God well. Peter saw Jesus, so Jesus told him his name. Our creativity is part of how we know and interpret. It’s not an afterthought, but rather at the core of our epistemology, or way of knowing things. How we see determines how we interpret. How we image Christ is one way of looking at the health of our imaginations over time! Nice meditation. Enjoying pondering it! Thanks mom.

I love Jesus and I love art, so any book which brings them into the same room, makes me happy! I love books that bring Jesus and art into the same room. Always feels like the right party to be in, and pondering!!! Where art and spirituality dance together!

A few of my favorite things: my wife, huge cameras you can walk inside, the Pacific ocean, eggs benedict with a thin lemon hollandaise, and cities, their stories and symbols conjoined in my birthday breakfast this year! Great spot for breakfast. Proof that heaven and earth still co-mingle. And this old school San Fran cafe, always makes me feel I’m in a movie from the 40’s. Or in a jazz song.

Being with my wife, having breakfast on the sea, and huge walk in cameras—these are a few of my favorite things….

This year’s birthday breakfast needed to contain eggs benedict with fresh crab, by the sea they came from of course! Decided to couple breakfast with bloody Mary’s, heavy on the horse radish and chili peppers, and fresh shrimp cocktail (Old school San Fran-breakfast, cocktails, fresh fish, good bread and eggs, all sourced close by-simple).

Each year i make a pilgrimage to this huge walk in pin hole camera. You just don’t see them every day. This one’s left over from a by gone era. Don’t get me started on this old camera obscura and how it works, basic early photography, before it was even cool, or when it was even cooler. Walking inside a camera is like a dream to me! Just considering perception makes me happy!

And literally we were seated right over the sea. And this is not a high end place, but more of a upscale dinner really, but the view makes it holistic for me. Plus I feel like i’m traveling in time. I would pick it for a last supper or breakfast!

The Cliff house has had five incarnations, the second and third are pictured here; the third was over the top to say the least! Lots of strange fires and ship wrecks! And the first radio signal was sent from here! Before that, morris code. It has a history of new forms of communication (hum…that seems to have continued). Anyways, lots of urban lore around it, but has been around since the late 1800’s on and off. Contains lots of symbols of this city. Fun delving and probing them today over breakfast. I like getting to know cities through their symbolic life.

Plus, i sat next to Robin William’s signed photo. We drove through his tunnel last week. I still miss and respect Robin! He used to live nearby the cafe many years ago.

Always nice to have that old school san fran vibe by the sea, and eggs benedict and the sea are proof that heaven and earth still interface! Anyways, these are a few of my favorite things. Nice birthday breakfast!

And to share life! I used to come here by myself when I lived out here, it’s much more meaningful to bring my wife! And we both love the sea! Her scottish blood, mine irish, we just feel Peace with its majesty! And we both love breakfast! Why not breakfast by the sea!!!