FOR GOOD MEASURE: Volume 6, May, 1988 

by Paul F. Bosch


Ten Radio Meditations (51-60)
originally composed by ELCIC pastor Paul F. Bosch
for CFCA-FM, Kitchener, Ontario.

These meditation appear in speech-line form. 
With a little bit of editing, 
they may be rendered in paragraph form 
for use in newsletters and guides to worship.
Be sure to credit the author for his work.


51)  "I know how the story ends..."
52)  You can't learn less...
53)  English word: Compassion = wound love...
54)  Brad at the beach...
55)  Augustine:  "Faith is loyalty to the intangibles"
56)  W.C.Smith:  Faith and belief...
57)  Buber:  Everything is either holy, or not yet holy..."
58)  Hebrew word: BARACHAH
59)  Luther: "Every time you wash your face..."
60)  German word: AUFERSTEHUNG...




51)  
I have a friend named Jon Nelson, 
     and he's a delight:
     always smiling, full of good humour and funny stories;
     one of the most compassionate men I know.

Jon has been arrested in the States a couple times 
     -- he's an American --
     in protest there over the nuclear arms race.

He's been jailed because of his opposition
     to the building of the Trident submarine,
     for example, in his home town.

A friend asked him one day
     "Jon, after all you've been through, 
     how can you keep smiling,
     how do you stay so cheerful?

Jon's a Christian,
     and he said, 
     "Because I know how the story ends."   




52) 
I heard a wise teacher say this recently
     about learning:
     "You can't learn less."

What he meant was, whatever you learn, you learn.

Your experience in life, that is, 
     is a precious gift
     that constantly adds to your learning.

And even unhappy experiences
     add to that learning.

You can't learn less, even in unhappy experiences.

Always you're learning more,
     adding to your store of experience,
     enriching and enlarging your total learning.

And your total life-experience,
     the good and the bad,
     makes you richer, not poorer.




53)
I heard the meaning of the word compassion
     the other day.

It comes from two Latin words
     that mean "together in pain".

Compassion, the Latin seems to suggest,
     is wound love, pain love.

It's standing beside another
     and sharing their pain,
     sharing their wounds.

When you have compassion on someone, 
     you're sharing their pain,    
     sharing their wounds.

That's a fine way to think of
     the kind of love we see in Jesus,
     the kind of love we're to have
     toward one another.




54)
We took a vacation in Florida
     a couple years ago,
     my family and I, 
     and we were on the beach one sunny day
     building a sandcastle.

A young fellow of about six or seven
     came and stood watching us, and
     I invited him to help us.

I asked, "Where are you from, son?"

He said, "Virginia".

I said, "Where do you live in Virginia?"

He said,
     "Do you know where the shopping centre is?"

I love that sense that kids have
     that you participate in their world.

Wouldn't it be great if we never lost it?





55) 
The great Saint Augustine said it:
     "Faith is living in loyalty to the intangibles."

That's a great way to think of faith,
     in my view.

If that word "god" gives you trouble,
     for example, and faith in god,
     you might think in these terms instead.

Faith is living in loyalty to the intangibles.

There's a lot in human life we just can't explain,
     or rationalize, or understand fully:
     the intangibles,
     the imponderables, 
     the realities beyond our understanding.

The life of faith is simply
     the life that acknowledges that
     there's more to life than you can see,
     than you can weigh or measure.




56)
Wilfrid Cantwell Smith
     is one of the world's great historians of religion,
     and he said this about the difference between
     faith and belief.

Faith is given by God, he said.

Belief is determined by your era,
     by the times in which you live.

That's reassuring, to me.

     Faith?  That's a gift,   
     given by God's spirit, 
     a constant, renewing, sustaining confidence
     in a God who takes delight in us.

And belief?

Belief is a little less important,
     in this view.

It's apt to differ through the years.

It's apt to depend on human thought
     and human philosophies,  
     and human perceptions and even
     human prejudices.

When the doubts and distractions 
     of our age assail me,
     and challenge my beliefs,
     it's comfort to me to remember that.




57)  
Martin Buber, the great Jewish theologian,
     said this about the importance
     of the physical world:
     The Hebrew understanding of life is that
     "Everything is either holy,
     or not yet holy."

I like that as a reminder of the importance
     of the created world.

"Everything is either holy,
     or not yet holy."

To take that seriously 
     is to come to the world with a whole different
     set of expectations.

To believe that everything in the world --   
     the world's peoples,
     the world's lands and resources --
     to believe that all that is holy,
     or potentially holy,
     charged with the grandeur of God --
     to believe that in my daily life
     is to change the way I treat them.

To believe that is to live out a cosmic sacrament.




58)  
There's a marvelous Hebrew word
     BERACHAH
     that the bible translates "thanksgiving".

It's a way of praising God
     that often includes a recital of God's mercies;
     it's as if you're speaking to God,
     giving thanks to God,
     but you expect that other people are listening in.

So you offer BERACHAH,
     you give thanks,
     you bless God for every good gift,
     and you proclaim to others,
     you're reminding others about God's gifts,
     even as you're praising God.

That's a lot like the way Christians see
     the life of faith.

Christians understand the life of faith
     as a life of praise to God,
     a life of BERACHAH.

You live your life, that is,
     as a kind of extended, acted out doxology,
   a kind of BERACHAH.

And you do it all in the hope, 
     the expectation,
     that other people are listening in.




59)  
Martin Luther had a great way with words.

He said for example
     that "Every time you wash your face,
     you should remember that you've been baptized."

I like that.

Every time you wash your face,
     every time you take a shower,
     every time you go for a swim,
     remember your baptism.

It's one way of recalling that
     you return to your baptism every day.

Every day,
     in every decision and action,
     you return to God's call to you,
     you return to your response in faith.

Every day, that is,
     you decide for or against God's gift.
     you act for or against God's call.

You might remember that,
     the next time you wash your face.




60)  
The German word 
     for the resurrection of Christ 
     surprised me.

It's AUFERSTEHUNG, if I'm not mistaken.

The word means, literally, 
     the "standing up" of Christ.

Jesus' resurrection means his standing up.

That's suggestive for faith, isn't it?

Jesus is not dead, prone, supine, lying there lifeless.

He's standing up, splendid again in the image of God.

He's moving about.

He's vibrant and alive and making things happen.

The orthodox argue that's one good reason
     for standing up to pray.

We stand up, that is, like Christ stood up,
     in his resurrection.

I suppose you could argue for kneeling to pray.

I suppose you could argue for sitting.

It probably doesn't make a bit of difference to God.

But I like that AUFERSTEHUNG,
     standing up, each one of us,
     splendid in the image of God.