Hope

Passages

Every passage tagged with this emotion in the Vela corpus. Search the body text, narrow by source or register, click through to a book’s profile to see how the passage sits with the rest of the work.

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• From Worried about Everything Because I Pray about Nothing (2022)

  To be honest, I’m not too excited about the emphasis here on trials. I’d rather avoid troubles, tests, and trials. Wouldn’t you? And yet, James reminds us that they play an important part in our spiritual growth. He tells us that going through tough things builds endurance, and endurance will have a “perfect result,” which includes making us “perfect and complete.” Perfection is a process—and not an easy one. It’s something that happens as we walk with God and allow Him to change us. In high school, I had a friend who grew seven inches in one summer: from six foot two to six foot nine. His name was Brannon, and he was an incredible basketball player. You know what I remember him talking about a lot? Growing pains. Everybody wants to grow, but nobody wants to hurt. And yet, the two are often connected. But here’s the thing: Growing pains are temporary, but growth is permanent. We can embrace the awkwardness and discomfort of the growth process because we know we are going to love the result. PRAY THROUGH THE PROCESS What does all this have to do with prayer? Trials don’t produce change overnight. Tests don’t automatically make us complete and perfect. We have to go through them. That’s where prayer comes in. Prayer is our connection to God in the midst of trials. Prayer changes us. Yes, prayer changes things around us. But mostly, it transforms you and me. Prayer connects our faith to our actions. It keeps us honest before God and open to the correction of the Holy Spirit. It leads us toward perfection, toward completeness.

• From The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness (2004)

  I started to eat normally again, quite spontaneously and without any real difficulty, which suggests to me that I was never truly anorexic. The pounds came back on and I barely noticed them. That phase was over. I had given up crying for help, because I had given up expecting any. Of course, I was grateful to the Harts and to Jane for their generosity to me during the crisis, but they could not touch the essential problem, nor could they ease my passage back to the world. Only I could do that, and toward the end of my third year of graduate study, I gave up psychiatry. Maybe this therapy could help others, but it had had no effect upon me at all. And besides, I told myself, I had submitted to other people’s programs and agendas for far too long. That, perhaps, was part of my trouble. It was now time to take my life into my own hands, instead of handing it over to other people, no matter how well intentioned. From now on, I was on my own. Thus, during the third year of my doctoral studies and some four and a half years after leaving my order, I turned a corner. I may have imbibed some of the spirit of the time, because during the late sixties and early seventies, laws that had hitherto seemed to be part of the very nature of things were being severely challenged. It was starting to be impossible now to assume that men were superior to women, that homosexuality was a crime, that whites should rule blacks. Women were taking command of their own lives, were campaigning for equal rights—and beginning to get them. In November 1970, the Gay Liberation Front had held its first public demonstration in Britain. In the United States, South Africa, and Europe, an unprecedented racial equality was beginning—slowly and painfully—to overturn centuries of enslavement and oppression. Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King were heroes to students all over the world. People were beginning to think in new ways, to cast aside a discredited past, and were gradually transforming the world. In my own small way, when I left the religious life, I too had faced the unthinkable, broken a taboo, and crossed a frontier that had once seemed impassable. I too was beginning to think differently, and to realize that assumptions that had hitherto held me in thrall were by no means cast in stone. It was even possible that one day I would be able to sing “We Shall Overcome” with the rest of my generation.

• From A Theology for the Social Gospel (1918)

  156 ATHEOLOGY FORTHE SOCIAL GOSPEL vine significance into all his minor duties andsaved life from religious disdain. We all know thecommon statue of Buddha, withhis hands relaxed and inactive inhis lap, his eyes unseeing and visionary, his lips in the smile of mystic contentment. We can not see Jesus so. The second temptation is pessimism. Religion cre- ates a profound sense of the evil in life. Those whose ears are attuned tohear the deepestorgan note ofthe universe, hear a groan of travail from theunder deep. Consequently pessimism hasbeen thesombre habitation of many noble religious minds from Buddhato Schopen- hauer.The dualismof the first century, both philo- sophical and religious, wasan expression of pessimism. Christianity wassucked thigh-deep intothis quicksand. Its earliest speculative theologians, the Gnostics, were so pessimistic that tothemthe creation of the world was a blunder or a crime, andtheCreator-God of Judaism got no reverence fromthemfor perpetrating thisworld. Jesus was nota pessimist. Since God was love, this world was to him fundamentally good. Herealized not only evil but the Kingdom of Evil; but he launched the Kingdom of God against it, and staked his life on its triumph. His faith in God and inthe Kingdom of God constituted hima religiousoptimist. Even when hislife was overshadowed by opposition, seeming failure, and death, his prevailing temper wasnot melancholy, but youthful and triumphant Hehadno use for the studied melancholy of periodical fasting. Why should his friends fast? They were having a wedding time. Why pour the new wine of gladness into the old sad bottles,

• From A Theology for the Social Gospel (1918)

  THE KINGDOM OF GOD 14! both present and future. Like God itis inall tenses, eternal inthe midstof time.It isthe energy ofGod realizing itself in human life. Itsfuturelies among the mysteries of God. It invites and justifies prophecy, but all prophecy is fallible ; it is valuable in so farasit grows out of action for the Kingdom and impels action. No theories about the future of the Kingdom of God are likely to be valuable or true which paralyze or post- pone redemptive actionon our part. To thosewho post- pone, it is a theory andnota reality. It is forus to see the Kingdom of God as alwayscoming,always pressing in onthe present,always big with possibility, and always inviting immediate action. Wewalk by faith. Every human life is so placed that it can sharewith God in the creation of the Kingdom, orcan resist andretardits progress. The Kingdom is for each of usthe supreme taskand the supreme gift of God. By accepting itasa task, we experience it as a gift. By labouring forit we enter intothe joy and peace ofthe Kingdom asour divine fatherland andhabitation. 4. Even before Christ, men ofGod sawthe Kingdom of God asthe great endto which all divine leadings were pointing. Every idealistic interpretation ofthe world, religious or philosophical, needssome such conception. Within the Christian religion theidea ofthe Kingdom gets its distinctive interpretation from Christ, (a) Je- sus emancipated the idea of the Kingdom from previous nationalistic limitations and from the debasement of lower religious tendencies, and made it world-wide and spiritual, (b) He made the purpose of salvation essen- tial in it. (c) He imposed his own mind, his personality,

• From A Theology for the Social Gospel (1918)

  was finally ejected because he had no wedding garment! In the same way the distinctive ethics of Jesus, which is part and parcel of his Kingdom doctrine, was long the hidden treasure of suppressed democratic sects. Now, as soon as the social gospel began once more to be preached in our own time, the doctrine of the Kingdom was immediately loved and proclaimed afresh, and the ethical principles of Jesus are once more taught without reservation as the only alternative for the greedy ethics of capitalism and militarism. These antipathies and affini- ties are a strong proof that the social gospel is neither alien nor novel, but is a revival of the earliest doctrines of Christianity, of its radical ethiral spirit, and of its revo- lutionary consciousness. The body of ideas which we call the social gospel is not the product of a fad or temporary interest ; it is not an alien importation or a novel invention; it is the revival of the most ancient and authentic gospel, and the scientific unfolding of essential elements of Christian doctrine which have remained undeveloped all too long; the rise of the social gospel is not a matter of choice but of des- tiny ; the digestion of its ideas will exert a quickening and reconstructive influence on every part of theology. The verification of these propositions lies in the fu- ture. But I believe that a survey of the history of the- ology during the last hundred years would already cor- roborate the inevitableness and the fruitfulness of the essential ideas of the social gospel. The trend of theol- ogy has been this way, and wherever the social nature of Christianity has been clearly understood, a new under- NEITHER ALIEN NOR NOVEL 27 standing for other theological problems has followed. The limits of this book do not permit such a survey, and I have not the accurate and technical knowledge of the literature of doctrinal theology to do justice to the sub-, ject. It would be an attractive subject for a specialist to trace the genesis and progress of the social gospel in sys- tematic theology. The following paragraphs are simply by way of suggestion. So far as my observation of doctrinal handbooks goes, it seems that those writers whose minds were formed be- fore the eighties rarely show any clear comprehension of social points of view. We move in a different world of thought when we read their books. It would pay the reader to test this for himself by reading the table of contents and scanning crucial sections of any standard American theologian of the first half of the nineteenth century. The terms, the methods, the problems, and the guiding interests lie far away. If any social ideas do occur, they are most often the dutiful explanation of ideas derived from Hebrew religion. Those individuals of that era who did strike out into social conceptions of Christianity deserve the name and honour of prophets.

• From A Theology for the Social Gospel (1918)

  3. We need a restoration of the millennial hope, which the Catholic Church dropped out of eschatology. It was crude in its form but wholly right in its substance. The duration of a thousand years is a guess and imma- terial. All efforts to fix ‘‘ times and seasons are futile. But the ideal of a social life in which the law of Christ shall prevail, and in which its prevalence shall result in peace, justice and a glorious blossoming of human life, is a Christian ideal. An outlook toward the future in which the spiritual life ’’ is saved and the economic life is left unsaved is both unchristian and stupid. If men in the past have given a “ carnal ” colouring of rich- ness to the millennial hope, let us renounce that part, and leave the ideals of luxury and excess to men of the pres- ent capitalistic order. Our chief interest in any millen- nium is the desire for a social order in which the worth and freedom of every least human being will be honoured and protected ; in which the brotherhood of man will be expressed in the common possession of the economic re- sources of society; and in which the spiritual good of humanity will be set high above the private profit in- terests of all materialistic groups. We hope for such an order for humanity as we hope for heaven for our- selves. ESCHATOLOGY 225

• From Worried about Everything Because I Pray about Nothing (2022)

  First, our world will get smaller and smaller because we will keep kicking people out of it; and second, our prayers will be hindered because our hearts will be too full of hurt to let love in. If you can’t pray because you’re so mad at someone, pray for the person you’re mad at. Pray through your pain. Pray until you begin to get clarity about how to find healing, even if it’s only the next step in the process. Forgiveness is for you, mostly. It keeps you from being controlled by another person or by your past. It keeps you from breaking your stride. Prayer can both awaken memories and heal trauma. It’s not always easy, and it’s not always quick, but praying through your hurts and offenses can bring deep healing to your soul. If necessary, reach out to someone—a pastor, trained counselor, or trusted mentor—who can walk with you through this and advise you on what steps to take. Prayer is not a substitute for processing trauma or taking practical action, but it is an invaluable aid as you walk the path of healing. 4. COMPLACENT PRAYERS I remember a young man in our church who was always available to volunteer, run errands, or pick me up at the airport. I appreciated his willingness to help out, but eventually I started to wonder how he had so much free time. The next time he was driving me somewhere, I casually asked him if he had a job. “No,” he replied. “I’m praying for one, though. God’s going to give me a miracle job.” “So how do you pay your bills?” I asked. “Well, you know, I’m living by faith. Sometimes people Venmo money to me and stuff like that.” We talked a bit more. I could see that he was a great guy with a lot to offer, but he wasn’t taking much initiative. Finally, I said, “Bro, you can’t keep going this way. You know how a miracle job shows up? You apply for ten jobs. God will bless you—but give Him something to work with here.” To his credit, that’s exactly what he did. Volunteering at church is great—but I’d much rather see this young man fulfilling his God-given potential than avoiding it. When it comes to prayer, we sometimes use praying to avoid doing . Like that young man, we have a lot to offer. But for one reason or another—maybe laziness, maybe fear, maybe some misguided idea of sovereignty—we hold back. We wait for God to make the first move. What if God is waiting on you to make the first move? If you’re going to pray, be willing to work. Don’t pray from a place of complacency, but from one of expectancy. Pray with a mindset of initiative, creativity, and self-confidence. Give God something to work with. When it comes to members of my staff, I nearly always prefer doing over waiting .

• From Tipping the Velvet (1998)

  And that gal what helped her, that was your chum, was it?’I said it was. Then: ‘And the charity? Do you remember them, and where their rooms are?’‘Where their rooms are, let me see ... I did go there wunst; but I don’t know as I can quite recall the partic’lar number. I do know as it was a place rather close to the Angel, Islington.’‘Near Sam Collins’s?’ I asked.‘Past Sam Collins’s, on Upper Street. Not so far as the post office. A little doorway on the left-hand side, somewhere between a public-house and a tailor’s ...’This was all he could recall; I thought it might be enough. I thanked him, and he smiled. ‘What a lovely black eye,’ he said again, but to his daughter this time. ‘Just like the song - ain’t it, Betty?’ By now I felt as if I had been on my feet for a month. I suspected that my boots had worn their way right through my stockings, and had started on the bare flesh of my toes and heels and ankles. But I did not stop at another bench, and untie my laces, in order to find out. The wind had picked up a little and, though it was only two o’clock or so, the sky was grey as lead. I wasn’t sure what time the charity offices might close; I wasn’t sure how long it would take me to find them; I didn’t know if Florence would even be there, when I did. So I walked rather quickly up Pentonville Hill, and let my feet be rubbed to puddings, and tried to plan what I would say to her when I found her. This, however, proved difficult. After all, she was a girl I hardly knew; worse - I could not help but recall this, now - I had once arranged to meet her, then let her down. Would she, even, remember me at all? In that gloomy Green Street passageway I had been certain that she would. But with every burning step, I grew less sure of it.It did not, as it turned out, take me very long to find the right office. The man’s memory was a good one, and Upper Street itself seemed wonderfully unchanged since his last visit there: the public-house and the tailor’s were quite as he had described them, close together on the left-hand side of the street, just past the music hall. In between them were three or four doors, leading to the rooms and offices above; and upon one of these was screwed a little enamel plaque, which said: Ponsonby’s Model Dwelling Houses. Directress Miss J. A. D. Derby - I remembered this very well now as the name of the lady with the mandolin. Beneath the plaque was a hand-written, rain-spattered note with an arrow pointing to a bell-pull at the side of the door. Please Ring, it said, and Enter.

• From A Theology for the Social Gospel (1918)

  Since at death we emigrate from the social life of mankind, the future life of the individual might seem to lie outside of the scope of our discussion. But in truth 228 A THEOLOGY FOR THE SOCIAL GOSPEL our conceptions of the life hereafter are deeply af- fected by the fundamental convictions of the social gos- pel. 1. There is no inherent contradiction whatever be- tween the hope of the progressive development of man- kind toward the Kingdom of God and the hope of the consummation of our personal life in an existence after death. The religious belief in the future life is often bitterly attacked by social radicals because in actual practice the deep interest in it which is cultivated by the Church, weakens interest in social justice and acts as a narcotic to numb the sense of wrong. The more the social gospel does its work within the Church, the more will this moral suspicion against the doctrine of the future life lessen. 2. Belief in a future life is not essential to religious faith. The religious minds who speak to us from the pages of the Old Testament, though they probably be- lieved in future existence, apparently gained neither comfort nor incentive from that belief. There is doubt- less an increasing number of religious men and women today who find their satisfaction in serving God now, but expect their personal existence to end at death. The hope that we shall survive death is not a self- evident proposition. When it is intelligent, it is an act of faith, — a tremendous assertion of faith. It may get support from science, from philosophy, or from psychical research, but its main supports are the resurrection of Christ, his teachings, and the common faith of the Christian Church, which all embolden the individual. Further, the sense of personality, which is intensified ESCHATOLOGY 229 and ennobled by the Christian life, and rises to the sense of imperishable worth in the assurance that we are children of God.

• From Wild (2012)

  There would be fresh batteries in my box tomorrow. There would be Hershey’s chocolate kisses that I’d dole out to myself over the next week. There would be the last batch of dehydrated meals and bags of nuts and seeds that had gone stale. The thought of these things was both a torture and a comfort to me. I curled into myself, trying to keep my sleeping bag away from the edges of my tent in case it leaked, but I couldn’t fall asleep. Dismal as it was, I felt a spark of light travel through me that had everything to do with the fact that I’d be done hiking the trail in about a week. I’d be in Portland, living like a normal person again. I’d get a job waiting tables in the evenings and I’d write during the day. Ever since the idea of living in Portland had settled in my mind, I’d spent hours imagining how it would feel to be back in the world where food and music, wine and coffee could be had. Of course, heroin could be had there too, I thought. But the thing was, I didn’t want it. Maybe I never really had. I’d finally come to understand what it had been: a yearning for a way out, when actually what I had wanted to find was a way in. I was there now. Or close.O [image file=image_rsrc2VM.jpg] “I’ve got a box,” I called to the ranger the next morning, chasing him as he began to drive away in his truck. He stopped and rolled down his window. “You Cheryl?” I nodded. “I have a box,” I repeated, still buried inside my putrid rain gear. “Your friends told me about you,” he said as he got out of his truck. “The married couple.” I blinked and pushed my hood off. “Sam and Helen?” I asked, and the ranger nodded. The thought of them sent a surge of tenderness through me. I pulled the hood back up over my head as I followed the ranger into the garage that was connected to the ranger station, which was connected to what appeared to be his living quarters. “I’m going to town, but I’ll be back later this afternoon, if you need anything,” he said, and handed me my box and three letters. He was brown-haired and mustached, late thirties, I guessed. “Thanks,” I said, hugging the box and letters.

• From Bold Move

  Dalio proceeded to question whether or not these youth, who have had a really bad hand dealt to them (in the form of trauma, adversity, neglect, exposure to drugs and alcohol), could really change their brain, rewire it, such that their lives would be different. I could have answered her question with a lot of published research, including my own (which eventually I did!), but here is what I told her: “I would not be sitting here, meeting with you if we could not change our brain. I had my own share of adversity and trauma, and yet the skills that I am talking about got me out of there!” It was not easy, and some days it is still very tough to overcome my own history of adversity and the stories my brain created as a result, but if I can do this, so can you. As the old Chinese proverb from Lao Tzu says, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. So, are you ready to take your first step to becoming bold? Part IIShift Chapter ThreeBrain Chatter: Retreating to AvoidImagine you just moved into a new home and discovered you needed a broom to clean up, as well as new hangers to organize your closet. How would you go about acquiring them? I bet you would go to your local megastore, buy the supplies, and never think twice about where they came from or why they cost what they did. In modern life, we give very little thought to the processes behind the things we buy. But I was able to see that firsthand growing up. Early on, when my mom got a job selling hangers and brooms, I got to witness what happens behind the scenes. What I recall from this time was how well my mom negotiated. You might not think that there’s much negotiating to be done in the thrilling world of door-to-door broom and hanger selling, but watching her deal with potential clients was like observing Michael Jordan playing basketball: pure magic. Whenever I accompanied her, I was always struck by how she seemed to enjoy the challenge of talking her way into someone’s home and then getting them to willingly part with their money once she’d convinced them they were buying not just any broom but, indeed, the best broom ever made at the best price ever. Because of this, I was raised with the idea that negotiating is something you are supposed to do. After all, why would any sane person accept less when more is also on the menu?

• From A Theology for the Social Gospel (1918)

  Theology is not superior to the gospel. It exists to aid the preaching of salvation. Its business is to make the essential facts and principles of Christianity so simple and clear, so adequate and mighty, that all who preach or teach the gospel, both ministers and laymen, can draw THE CHALLENGE TO THEOLOGY 7 on its stores and deliver a C9mplete and unclouded Chris- tian message. When the progress of humanity creates new tasks, such as world-wide missions, or new problems, such as the social problem, theology must connect these with the old fundamentals of our faith and make them* Christian tasks and problems. The adjustment of the Christian message to the regen- eration of the social order is plainly one of the most difficult tasks ever laid on the intellect of religious lead- ers. The pioneers of the social gospel have had a hard time trying to consolidate their old faith and their new aim. Some have lost their faith ; others have come out of the struggle with crippled formulations of truth. Does not our traditional theology deserve some of the blame for this spiritual wastage because it left these men with- out spiritual support and allowed them to become the vicarious victims of our theological inefficiency? If our theology is silent on social salvation, we compel college men and women, workingmen, and theological students, to choose between an unsocial system of theology and an irreligious system of social salvation. It is not hard to predict the outcome. If we seek to keep Christian doctrine unchanged, we shall ensure its abandonment. Instead of being an aid in the development of the social gospel, systematic theology has often been a real clog. When a minister speaks to his people about child labour or the exploitation of the lowly by the strong; when he insists on adequate food, education, recreation, and a really human opportunity for all, there is response. People are moved by plain human feeling and by the in- stinctive convictions which they have learned from Jesus 8 A THEOLOGY FOR THE SOCIAL GOSPEL

• From A Theology for the Social Gospel (1918)

  The attacks on our inherited theology have usually come from the intellectuals who are galled by the yoke of uncritical and unhistorical beliefs brought down from pre-scientific centuries. They are entirely within their right in insisting that what is scientifically impossible shall not be laid as an obligatory belief on the neck of modern men in the name of religion. But the rational subtrac- tions of liberalism do not necessarily make religion more religious. We have to snuff the candle to remove the burnt-out wick, but we may snuff out the flame, and all the matches may prove to be damp. Critical clarifying is decidedly necessary, but power in religion comes only through the consciousness of a great elementary need which compels men to lay hold of God anew. The social gospel speaks to sucVi a need, and wVvere a teal Icvatmony has been established It has pul new fire and power into the old faith. The power of conservatism is not all due to religious tenderness and loyalty. Some of it results from less wor- thy causes. Doctrinal theology is in less direct contact 12 A THEOLOGY FOR THE SOCIAL GOSPEL with facts than other theological studies. Exegesis and church history deal with historical material and their business is to discover the facts. New facts and the pressure of secular scientific work compel them to revise their results and keep close to realities. Doctrinal tht- ology deals with less substantial and ascertainable things. It perpetuates an esoteric stream of tradition. What every church demands of its systematic theologians is to formulate clearly and persuasively what that church has always held and taught. If they go beyond that they are performing a work of supererogation for which they do not always receive thanks. Theoretically the Church is the great organization of unselfish service. Actually the Church has always been profoundly concerned for its own power and authority. But its authority rests in large part on the stability of its doctrine. The Roman Catholic Church has always been in the nature of a defensive organization to maintain uni- formity of teaching. The physical suppression of heresy was merely the last and crudest means employed by it to resist change. The more subtle and spiritual forms of pressure have doubtless been felt by every person who ever differed with his own church, whatever it was. This selfish ecclesiastical conservatism is not for the Kingdom of God but against it. Theology needs periodical rejuvenation. Its greatest danger is not mutilation but senility. It is strong and vital when it expresses in large reasonings what youthful religion feels and thinks. When people have to be in- doctrinated laboriously in order to understand theology at DIFFICULTIES OF THEOLOGICAL READJUSTMENT 1 3

• From Worried about Everything Because I Pray about Nothing (2022)

  Part of processing our pain is to ground our present circumstances in the bigger picture. Pain has a way of shouting so urgently that we think the entire sky is falling. But maybe it’s just a small piece of it. Or an acorn. The only way to know is to spend some time reflecting on who God is, what He has done for us, how great He is, and where we fit in His plan. After that moment of light, though, things grow dark again. David poetically laments how powerless he feels. It’s like the clouds of doubt cleared for a moment, then closed in on him again. A couple verses later, there’s another change. David affirms his own journey of trust in God. Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast. From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God. verses 9–10 David recognizes that he has always trusted God. Sure, there have been moments where he hasn’t felt very confident, but over his lifetime, he has walked by faith. God is his God, and David trusts Him. If it feels like some emotional whiplash is happening here, that’s because it is. We are getting a real-time, live-streamed view of David’s emotional, mental, and spiritual journey. And it sounds a lot like ours, if we’re honest. Prayer doesn’t “fix” our emotions or thoughts immediately. Fixing them isn’t even the goal because they aren’t broken in the first place. They are part of who we are, part of the journey we are on. When you’re praying, don’t hide from the roller coaster of feelings. Sometimes your prayers get darker before they get lighter. God is not afraid of strong emotion. He created all the feels, and He feels them all with us. 3. Prayer: turning to God for help

• From Wild (2012)

  There would be fresh batteries in my box tomorrow. There would be Hershey’s chocolate kisses that I’d dole out to myself over the next week. There would be the last batch of dehydrated meals and bags of nuts and seeds that had gone stale. The thought of these things was both a torture and a comfort to me. I curled into myself, trying to keep my sleeping bag away from the edges of my tent in case it leaked, but I couldn’t fall asleep. Dismal as it was, I felt a spark of light travel through me that had everything to do with the fact that I’d be done hiking the trail in about a week. I’d be in Portland, living like a normal person again. I’d get a job waiting tables in the evenings and I’d write during the day. Ever since the idea of living in Portland had settled in my mind, I’d spent hours imagining how it would feel to be back in the world where food and music, wine and coffee could be had. Of course, heroin could be had there too, I thought. But the thing was, I didn’t want it. Maybe I never really had. I’d finally come to understand what it had been: a yearning for a way out, when actually what I had wanted to find was a way in. I was there now. Or close.O [image file=image_rsrc2VM.jpg] “I’ve got a box,” I called to the ranger the next morning, chasing him as he began to drive away in his truck. He stopped and rolled down his window. “You Cheryl?” I nodded. “I have a box,” I repeated, still buried inside my putrid rain gear. “Your friends told me about you,” he said as he got out of his truck. “The married couple.” I blinked and pushed my hood off. “Sam and Helen?” I asked, and the ranger nodded. The thought of them sent a surge of tenderness through me. I pulled the hood back up over my head as I followed the ranger into the garage that was connected to the ranger station, which was connected to what appeared to be his living quarters. “I’m going to town, but I’ll be back later this afternoon, if you need anything,” he said, and handed me my box and three letters. He was brown-haired and mustached, late thirties, I guessed. “Thanks,” I said, hugging the box and letters.

• From The Confessions of Saint Augustine (354)

  Lastly, O Lord, who art God and not flesh and blood, if man did see less, could any thing be concealed from Thy good Spirit (who shall lead me into the land of uprightness), which Thou Thyself by those words wert about to reveal to readers in times to come, though he through whom they were spoken, perhaps among many true meanings, thought on some one? which if so it be, let that which he thought on be of all the highest. But to us, O Lord, do Thou, either reveal that same, or any other true one which Thou pleasest; that so, whether Thou discoverest the same to us, as to that Thy servant, or some other by occasion of those words, yet Thou mayest feed us, not error deceive us. Behold, O Lord my God, how much we have written upon a few words, how much I beseech Thee! What strength of ours, yea what ages would suffice for all Thy books in this manner? Permit me then in these more briefly to confess unto Thee, and to choose some one true, certain, and good sense that Thou shalt inspire me, although many should occur, where many may occur; this being the law my confession, that if I should say that which Thy minister intended, that is right and best; for this should I endeavour, which if I should not attain, yet I should say that, which Thy Truth willed by his words to tell me, which revealed also unto him, what It willed. Book XIII

• From A Theology for the Social Gospel (1918)

  Religious experience reacts on theology. Consider the men who have turned theological thought into new chan- nels — Paul, Augustine, Luther, Fox, Wesley, Schleier- macher. These were all men who had experienced God at first hand and while under the pressure of new prob- lems. Then they generalized on the basis of their ex- perience. Paul, for instance, had borne the weight of the Law; he had found his own efforts futile; he had found Christ gracious, free, and a power of life. On this experience he built his theology. A like experience under Catholic legalism enabled Luther to understand Paul; he DIFFICULTIES OF THEOLOGICAL READJUSTMENT 21 revitalized the Pauline theology, built a theology of eman- cipation on that, and threw out of religious practice and thought what was not in agreement with his experience and its formula. The rank and file of us have no genius and can not erect our personal experience into a common standard. But our early experiences act as a kind of guide by which we test what seems to have truth and reality. We select those theoretical ideas which agree with our experience, and are cold to those which have never entered into our life. When such a selective process is exercised by many active minds, who all act on the same lines, the total effect on theological thought is considerable. This is a kind of theological referendum, a democratic change in theology on the basis of religious experience. Connect these two propositions : that an experience of religion through the medium of solidaristic social feeling is an experience of unusually high ethical quality, akin to that of the prophets of the Bible : and second, that a fresh and clearly marked religious experience reacts on theol- ogy. Can we not justly expect that the increasing in- fluence of the social gospel and all that it stands for, will have a salutary influence on theology? The social gospel has already restored the doctrine of the Kingdom of God, which held first place with Jesus but which individualistic theology carefully wrapped in several napkins and forgot. Theology always needs rejuvenation. Most of all in a great epoch of change like ours. Yet change always hurts. If change must come, the influence of the social gospel is the most constructive and wholesome channel by which it could possibly come. Surely theology will 22 A THEOLOGY FOR THE SOCIAL GOSPEL not become less Christian by widening the scope of salva- tion, by taking more seriously the burden of social evil, and by learning to believe in the Kingdom of God. The proclamation of the social gospel would evoke the pro- phetic spirit in the exponents of doctrinal theology. Then they would have to seek boldness and authority from the living spirit of God. Theology has a right to the forward look and to the fire of religious vision. CHAPTER III NEITHER ALIEN NOR NOVEL

• From A Theology for the Social Gospel (1918)

  democratic and fraternal, its language less simple, and its ideas more speculative, elaborate and remote. Origen felt he had to apologize for the homely Greek and the simple arguments of Jesus. Theology became an affair of experts. The first duty of the laymen was to believe with all their hearts what they could not possibly under- stand with all their heads. The practical result has been that laymen have always assented as they were told, but have made an unconscious private selection of the truths that seemed to contain marrow for them. The working creed of the common man is usually very brief. A man may tote a large load of theology and live on a small part of it. If ministers periodically examined their church members as profes- sors examine their classes, they would find that a man can be in the rain a long time and not become wetter under the skin. Even in the Middle Ages, when all phil- osophy was theology and when religious doubt was rare, the laity seem to have had their own system of faith. In the memoirs of statesmen and artists and merchants, in the songs of the common people, and in the secret sym- bolism of the masons and other gilds, we find a simple faith which guided their life. They believed in God and his law, in immortality and retribution, in Christ and his mercy, in the abiding difference between righteousness and evil, and by this faith they tried to do their duty where God had given them their job in life. The social gospel approximates lay religion. It deals with the ethical problems of the present life with which the common man is familiar and which press upon his conscience. Yet it appeals to God, his will, his kingdom ; DIFFICULTIES OF THEOLOGICAL READJUSTMENT 1 7 to Christ, his spirit, his law. Audiences who are es- tranged from the Church and who would listen to the- ological terminology with frank scorn, will listen with ab- sorbed interest to religious thought when it is linked with their own social problems. Theology ought not to pare down its thought to the rudimentary ideas of untrained people. But every in- fluence which compels it to simplify its terms and to deal with actual life is a blessing to theology. Theological professors used to lecture and write in Latin. There is perhaps no other language in which one can utter plati- tudes so sonorously and euphoniously. It must have been a sanitary sweating off of adipose tissue when theology began to talk in the vernacular. It will be a similar in- crease of health when theology takes in hand the problems of social redemption and considers how its doctrines con- nect with the Kingdom of God in actual realization.

• From Worried about Everything Because I Pray about Nothing (2022)

  In high school, I had a friend who grew seven inches in one summer: from six foot two to six foot nine. His name was Brannon, and he was an incredible basketball player. You know what I remember him talking about a lot? Growing pains. Everybody wants to grow, but nobody wants to hurt. And yet, the two are often connected. But here’s the thing: Growing pains are temporary, but growth is permanent. We can embrace the awkwardness and discomfort of the growth process because we know we are going to love the result. PRAY THROUGH THE PROCESS What does all this have to do with prayer? Trials don’t produce change overnight. Tests don’t automatically make us complete and perfect. We have to go through them . That’s where prayer comes in. Prayer is our connection to God in the midst of trials. Prayer changes us . Yes, prayer changes things around us. But mostly, it transforms you and me. Prayer connects our faith to our actions. It keeps us honest before God and open to the correction of the Holy Spirit. It leads us toward perfection, toward completeness. When we pray, we grow. Prayer is not the only way for us to grow, of course. Reading the Bible, being in a church community, worship, talking with other people, classes, experience, getting counsel, and more all contribute to being well-rounded humans. There is something unique about prayer, though, especially when we are going through difficult times. So often we turn to prayer in an attempt to get out of tough times. When that doesn’t work, we pray to get through tough times. But what about praying to grow through those times? What if God wants to respond to our prayers by causing us to be bigger, more complete, more mature people? I think that’s exactly what often happens. It’s no coincidence that James talks about personal growth in the context of trials and endurance. I wish it weren’t this way, but we tend to grow when we are forced to do so. Some trial, some test, or some trouble comes our way, and in order to face it, we have to develop new abilities or tools. That’s a good thing! Why go through when you can grow through ? As we think about character perfection (aka completeness or maturity) and what prayer has to do with it, there are a few things to keep in mind. 1. Growth takes work. Personal growth is rarely easy or fun. It’s more often described with words like uncomfortable, painful, slow, scary, laborious, humbling , and confusing . And yet, the results are worth it.

• From Wild (2012)

  As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner. **The Complete Stories, Flannery O’Connor. The Novel, James Michener. A Summer Bird-Cage, Margaret Drabble. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov. Dubliners, James Joyce. Waiting for the Barbarians, J. M. Coetzee. The Pacific Crest Trail, Volume 2: Oregon and Washington, Jeffrey P. Schaffer and Andy Selters. Fifth edition, Wilderness Press, May 1992. The Best American Essays 1991, edited by Robert Atwan and Joyce Carol Oates. The Ten Thousand Things, Maria Dermoût. *Not burned. Carried all the way.**Not burned. Traded for The Novel.Wild Reading Group Guide Questions1. When Cheryl discovers the guidebook to the Pacific Crest Trail, she says that the trip “was an idea, vague and outlandish, full of promise and mystery.” Later, her soon-to-be ex-husband suggests she wants to do the hike “to be alone.” What do you think her reasons were for committing to this journey? 2. In the beginning of the book, Cheryl’s prayers are literally curse words—curses for her mother’s dying, curses against her mother for failing. How does her spiritual life change during the course of the book? 3. Cheryl’s pack, also known as Monster, is one of those real-life objects that also makes a perfect literary metaphor: Cheryl has too much carry on her back and in her mind. Are there other objects she takes with her or acquires along the way that take on deeper meanings? How so? 4. “The thing about hiking the Pacific Crest Trail … was how few choices I had and how often I had to do the thing I least wanted to do,” writes Cheryl. “How there was no escape or denial.” In what ways have her choices helped and/or hurt her up to this point? 5. “Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves,” Cheryl writes her first day on the trail. She is speaking about her fear of rattlesnakes and mountain lions and serial killers. To defeat that fear, she tells herself a new story, the story that she is brave and safe. What do you think about this approach, which she herself calls “mind control”? What are some of her other ways of overcoming fear? 6. At one point, Cheryl tells herself, “I was not meant to be this way, to live this way, to fail so darkly.” It’s a moment of self-criticism and despair. And yet, some belief in herself exists in that statement. How do the things Cheryl believes about herself throughout the memoir, even during her lowest moments, help or hurt her on the PCT? 7. Walking on the trail during the first few weeks, Cheryl writes, “My mind was a crystal vase that contained only one desire. My body was its opposite: a bag of broken glass.” Through the book she talks about the blisters, the dehydration, the exhaustion, and the hunger. How—and why—did this physical suffering help her cope with her emotional pain?