Faith and Sight

I believe! Help my unbelief…

Archive for the category “On Faith”

30 Apr 2024

Gallio’s Scorn

I first started this blog over fifteen and a half years ago, and I’m not sure what I had in mind. Though I have kept it, I can honestly say that I’m still not sure what exactly I have in mind. And why did I keep it, even though I didn’t post for almost 11 years? A little baffling. Nevertheless! I am glad I did. Perhaps I like the breadcrumb trail nature of it. The mystery of me, who like many people, is often confused by my own self.

Here is a repost of the very first entry I made. It’s a poem by John Henry Newman.

Faith Against Sight

The world has cycles in its course, when all
That once has been, is acted o’er again:-
Not by some fated law, which need appal
Our faith, or binds our deeds as with a chain;
But by men’s separate sins, which, blended still,
The same bad round fulfill.

Then fear ye not, though Gallio’s scorn you see,
And soft-clad nobles count you mad, true hearts!
These are the fig-tree’s signs; – rough deeds must be,
Trials and crimes; so learn ye well your parts.
Once more to plough the earth it is decreed,
And scatter wide the seed.

– John Henry Newman


When I sat down to write this today, I really couldn’t remember much about why I chose this as my entry point, or where I got this poem of his, or why I thought it was important to post. But I did a little digging and behold! I must have come across it while choosing the name of this site. Mundane reason, but such a great poem. I’m glad I searched it up and fixed it here, so the attribution is clear.

It is true – rough deeds must be. And so here is another entreaty to myself and anyone else who cares to consider it: learn ye well your parts, plough the earth, and scatter wide the seed.

God is Good, and he is at work. He is Jehovah, the one who comes to us, tells us his name, and always finishes the work he has begun in us. What a gift.

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24 Nov 2012

Thanksgiving, revisited

It seems that everything has to be revisited lately. Because here’s what I just thought: what if you’re one of the 99 that got left in the “open country” while he was off searching for the one that’s lost? That would be pretty scary.

Just sayin’.

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13 Apr 2012

2 Corinthians 5

I’m enduring Paul’s letters today. I confess I largely endure them, something I’m sure I could improve my attitude and perspective on. Why, I wonder? Of course, every now and then Paul is so lovely and says something so nicely that I don’t mind the abrasiveness. Today I have enjoyed him. Here are some especially fetching sentences from 2 Corinthians 5:

“Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. … We live by faith, not by sight. … Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. … If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ’s love compels us… So from now on regard no one from a worldly point of view. … If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: the old has gone, the new has come! … God [is] reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. … We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. … I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.”

Now is the day for lots of things, of course, but surely this is the most important thing to grasp. So I keep challenging myself to live by faith, and not by sight. Again, and again. “Do not forget!” I tell myself. “For He has surely not forgotten you.” I do love Him for that.

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18 Dec 2011

A Tent for the Son

A Tent for the Son

Art (by Dayton Castleman) to celebrate Advent at church this morning.

Inside, 6 T8 fluorescent bulbs, 1 inch diameter and 4 ft long, so an output of approximately 18K lumens. Blinding, which is the point. Inside a trailer, no less. Almost unbearably shocking, which is also the point. Loved it.

My horrified remark when I first saw it? “What is that? It looks awful.” Seriously. It was on the altar. “Are they going to leave it there??” It was interfering with the beautiful Christmas decorations, you see. Later, after I understood, I ran back to my friend, urgently explaining that my response and subsequent conversion should become my Advent meditation. Indeed.

Psalm 19 – God pitched a tent in the heavens for the sun.

John 1 – The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

The light shines in the darkness

The light shines in the darkness.

A Tent for the Son

The darkness has not overcome it.

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24 Dec 2010
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The Bells of Christmas Day

Several years after the tragic death of his wife, and during the midst of the civil war in which his oldest son was injured, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow sat down at his desk on Christmas Day, 1864.  He wrote this poem:

Christmas Bells

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night today,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

Longfellow knew suffering. After his wife’s death he said he was “inwardly bleeding to death.” At times he questioned his continued sanity. I imagine him sitting at his desk that day, hearing the bells and looking at the brokenness around him.

For a new interpretation of the poem and familiar Christmas Carol, look up Casting Crowns’ “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” For the New Testament scripture that Longfellow was referencing, read Luke 2.

Posted in On Faith, Other People and tagged , ,
30 Sep 2009

Remembering me?

Reading Psalm 103 today and wondering:  does he really remember my frame?  Does he remember that I am dust?

Lord, I believe!  Help my unbelief.

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29 Sep 2009

Job and his friends

Job and his friends hold a special place in my heart.  Something about their tedious pontification and God’s eventual response brings me a degree of comfort that few other biblical portraits offer.  First of all, it’s just so awkward.  Who can’t relate?  There they are – trying to figure out why, trying to assign blame…  Who is wiser?  Who needs to be humbler?  Who can speak with authority?  No one, says God.  Stop!  Knowing the way it ends makes my toes curl as I read through all their conversations.  I feel embarassed for them.  I know that they are me.

Second of all, there’s the happy ever after ending.  This sometimes makes me mad.  How in the world can God just “make up for it” like that?  And, if he can, why in the world won’t he do that for me?  Where’s my blessing?  And there I go again, sounding like an idiot.

At the end of the day, I admit this:  I come down on the wrong side of the whole biblical anecdote.  I don’t get Job, who do I really relate to?  His friends.  Job says “though He slay me, still I will praise Him.”  I say things like:  What the hell is God thinking?  And, even better, more recent, and humbling to see in print:  “I just think God is wrong!”  Yes, I did say that.

I can’t pretend that I’ve fully repented of that attitude.  But I want to!  I want to praise God, to tell Him I love him and how wonderful He is, in the middle of my tragedies and pain.  This is the kind of trust that saves me.  The few times that I have done this, I feel a peace that – as they say – passes understanding.

Where’s my blessing?  He’s it.

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29 Sep 2009

Faith Against Sight

The world has cycles in its course, when all
That once has been, is acted o’er again:-
Not by some fated law, which need appal
Our faith, or binds our deeds as with a chain;
But by men’s separate sins, which, blended still,
The same bad round fulfill.

Then fear ye not, though Gallio’s scorn you see,
And soft-clad nobles count you mad, true hearts!
These are the fig-tree’s signs; – rough deeds must be,
Trials and crimes; so learn ye well your parts.
Once more to plough the earth it is decreed,
And scatter wide the seed.

– John Henry Newman

Posted in On Faith, Other People and tagged , , | Leave a comment

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