His fool
When my sister suggested I got my letters together and make them into a book I laughed. Then she went on to suggest I start a web page, and then she discovered Blogs. So, here I am facing the challenge of beating computers and technology. We shall soon find out who wins.
Not easy, not for me. I have to read every instruction twice, and then click the right thing and many times find out that I hadn´t clicked the right thing after all!
His fool. I took a long time looking for the title. I just couldn´t find one that I really liked. Then one day I ran into that Bible verse... the one in which Paul says we are fools for Christ. And just as I was going over this idea somebody lent me an article in which it mentions some fools. I thought "That is it!" well, no... honestly I thought "Hey! That sounds like me!!!!" and I was surprised.
It reads:
Fools come in a variety of guises. Some appear to be madmen, some antisocial eccentrics, some simpleminded, some jesters of pleasant or unpleasan men, some imprudent, some impudent, some prophetic, some deluded. Whatever the stamp of their holiness, they all belong to a long line of fools for Christ.
Take for instance, St.Simeon Salos, a sixth century monk. His exploits included running through the streets while dragging a dead dog, disrupting liturgies by throwing nuts to extinguish the candels, dressing in outrageous fashion, exhibiting violent changes of mood, eating sausages on Good Friday, and running into baths reserved for women. All the while, unbeknownst to others, Simeon practiced prayer and fasting.
St. Andrew spent most of his life naked, both in winter and summer, often sleeping out-of- doors with stray dosgs. A troublesome beggar and vagabond who outraged the respectable, he shared his time with the outcasts at the skirts of the city in perpetual prayer.
Well, I have never done anything that crazy... yet. Or maybe I have.... anyhow, what made me feel I do fit in this group was the author´s conclusion:
Holy fools shock us out of our habituated sense of how things ought to be.
They challenge our complacency.
They confront us with the conundrum: what does it mean to lead a spiritual life?
Yeah. I see that a lot of what God has asked me to do is precisely that. "Bea Gasca, lets do something to make people think. I have an idea. You could stand on the chair to worship during the church meeting." Of course I would tell Him "Lord, I´ll be a fool! People will not understand! Do you want to ruin my testimony?" Silence followed. A sigh. Obedience. and change. People at least had to critize, and God loved it. Personally the only time that I really loved it was when I was in Ekklesia, in La Paz, Bolivia, standing on the bench, one of the ushers came to make me get down, the pastor called from the microphone "Leave her alone, If we had any idea of who we are worshiping tonight we would all be on the benches!"... those words made an impact in me, and I have worshipped my Lord with all of my strength and devotion ever since.
The author continues:
We learn from holy fools that it is precisely in our own weakness, in our own foolishness, that we are most likely to encounter God. We want to be whole, not fragmented. the irony is that it is precisely in the loving, humble acceptance of our weaknesses that we do become whole- not necessarily because they get taken away or healed, but because we have owned and embraced the whole truth of our lives. And, again ironically, it is as often through our weaknesses that God enters us and works through us.
Yes, this is true. I am not stronger, or braver. In fact, after walking so close to God in the past three years I am now extremely weak and fragile. Not half of what I used to be. Weak, needing lots of rest. Weak in mind, heart and even phisically weak.
God tore my idea of who He is, and along that He ripped a lot of my security.
God actually destroyed my ministry. MY ministry, it was never His.
I kept telling Him, if I write this...nobody will support me. If I do this, nobody will open doors for me to preach. He tore everything apart. Plans, dreams, goals, objectives... everything.
And it was there. In the midst of destruction that I found HIM. The real God. The I AM.
A fool? perhaps... for now I am beginning to think that the real fools are those who hang onto their lives, but never really find HIM.
Holy fools shock us out of our habituated sense of how things ought ot be.
May we all become His fools.
Not easy, not for me. I have to read every instruction twice, and then click the right thing and many times find out that I hadn´t clicked the right thing after all!
His fool. I took a long time looking for the title. I just couldn´t find one that I really liked. Then one day I ran into that Bible verse... the one in which Paul says we are fools for Christ. And just as I was going over this idea somebody lent me an article in which it mentions some fools. I thought "That is it!" well, no... honestly I thought "Hey! That sounds like me!!!!" and I was surprised.
It reads:
Fools come in a variety of guises. Some appear to be madmen, some antisocial eccentrics, some simpleminded, some jesters of pleasant or unpleasan men, some imprudent, some impudent, some prophetic, some deluded. Whatever the stamp of their holiness, they all belong to a long line of fools for Christ.
Take for instance, St.Simeon Salos, a sixth century monk. His exploits included running through the streets while dragging a dead dog, disrupting liturgies by throwing nuts to extinguish the candels, dressing in outrageous fashion, exhibiting violent changes of mood, eating sausages on Good Friday, and running into baths reserved for women. All the while, unbeknownst to others, Simeon practiced prayer and fasting.
St. Andrew spent most of his life naked, both in winter and summer, often sleeping out-of- doors with stray dosgs. A troublesome beggar and vagabond who outraged the respectable, he shared his time with the outcasts at the skirts of the city in perpetual prayer.
Well, I have never done anything that crazy... yet. Or maybe I have.... anyhow, what made me feel I do fit in this group was the author´s conclusion:
Holy fools shock us out of our habituated sense of how things ought to be.
They challenge our complacency.
They confront us with the conundrum: what does it mean to lead a spiritual life?
Yeah. I see that a lot of what God has asked me to do is precisely that. "Bea Gasca, lets do something to make people think. I have an idea. You could stand on the chair to worship during the church meeting." Of course I would tell Him "Lord, I´ll be a fool! People will not understand! Do you want to ruin my testimony?" Silence followed. A sigh. Obedience. and change. People at least had to critize, and God loved it. Personally the only time that I really loved it was when I was in Ekklesia, in La Paz, Bolivia, standing on the bench, one of the ushers came to make me get down, the pastor called from the microphone "Leave her alone, If we had any idea of who we are worshiping tonight we would all be on the benches!"... those words made an impact in me, and I have worshipped my Lord with all of my strength and devotion ever since.
The author continues:
We learn from holy fools that it is precisely in our own weakness, in our own foolishness, that we are most likely to encounter God. We want to be whole, not fragmented. the irony is that it is precisely in the loving, humble acceptance of our weaknesses that we do become whole- not necessarily because they get taken away or healed, but because we have owned and embraced the whole truth of our lives. And, again ironically, it is as often through our weaknesses that God enters us and works through us.
Yes, this is true. I am not stronger, or braver. In fact, after walking so close to God in the past three years I am now extremely weak and fragile. Not half of what I used to be. Weak, needing lots of rest. Weak in mind, heart and even phisically weak.
God tore my idea of who He is, and along that He ripped a lot of my security.
God actually destroyed my ministry. MY ministry, it was never His.
I kept telling Him, if I write this...nobody will support me. If I do this, nobody will open doors for me to preach. He tore everything apart. Plans, dreams, goals, objectives... everything.
And it was there. In the midst of destruction that I found HIM. The real God. The I AM.
A fool? perhaps... for now I am beginning to think that the real fools are those who hang onto their lives, but never really find HIM.
Holy fools shock us out of our habituated sense of how things ought ot be.
May we all become His fools.
posted by thisfool @ 1:57 PM
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