Library of Babel

SOURCE:  https://maskofreason.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/the-library-of-babel-by-jorge-luis-borges.pdf

KEYWORD:  truth, lie, false, fiction, art, profane, reason, madness, foolish, confusion, 

This is the challenge of our day:  An infinite library, with infinite truths and infinite falsehoods, and a complete inability to tell those two things apart.

This is straight from the 1941 Jorge Luis Borges story “The Library of Babel”. In it, he imagines an infinite library made up of books of random letters.

Because it is infinite, it contains not only every book ever written, but every book that could possibly be written. It contains every possible truth as well as an infinite number of falsehoods.

The secrets of the universe, of life, of everything, are hidden somewhere in that library.

The only issue is that the magical book is impossible to find. And if you found it, how would you ever know you found the book of truth, and not one of the infinite books of lies that surround it?

Laughter and Prayer

SOURCE:  Reinhold Niebuhr, Discerning the Signs of the Times: Sermons for Today and Tomorrow

KEYWORD: Humor, Faith, Laughter, Prayer, Play, Wonder, Comedy, Joke

QUOTE:

“Humor is, in fact, a prelude to faith; and laughter is the beginning of prayer. Laughter must be heard in the outer courts of religion, and the echoes of it should resound in the sanctuary; but there is no laughter in the holy of holies. There laughter is swallowed up in prayer and humor is fulfilled by faith.

The intimate relation between humor and faith is derived from the fact that both deal with the incongruities of our existence. ... Laughter is our reaction to immediate incongruities and those which do not affect us essentially. Faith is the only possible response to the ultimate incongruities of existence, which threaten the very meaning of our life.”

Two Most Important Days

SOURCE:  https://atkinsbookshelf.wordpress.com/2014/09/29/the-two-most-important-days-in-your-life/

KEYWORDS:  Vocation, Calling, Purpose, Life, Identity, 

This quote is attributed to Mark Twain, but he probably never said it.  

"The two most important days in your life are the day you are born, and the day you find out why."

Do Not Pray for an Easy Life

SOURCE: 

• https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/127769966.cms
• https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/4146-do-not-pray-for-an-easy-life-pray-for-the

KEYWORDS: Stoic, Prayer, Difficult, Easy, 

QUOTE:

“Do not pray for an easy life.  Pray for the strength to endure a difficult one." -- Bruce Lee

Frederick Schleiermacher's Bust

SOURCE:  https://postbarthian.com/2019/06/03/review-friedrich-schleiermacher-in-plain-english-by-stephen-d-morrison/

KEYWORDS:  charity, essentials, unity, opponents, disagreement, theology

In Morrison's biography of Schleiermacher, Karl Barth is described as having found a bust of Schleiermacher and rescued it.  Barth then places it in a place of honor.  

"The restoration of Schleiermacher's statue to its rightful place of honor is an ironic testimony to Barth's own contribution to Schleiermacher-studies. We could not accurately describe Barth as either an enemy or an ally of Schleiermacher's theology, but this ambiguity does not negate Barth's steadfast conviction about Schleiermacher's significance. In his own way, Barth's massive influence has resulted in a revival of interest in Schleiermacher. I can personally attest to be being among those brought to Schleiermacher because of Barth."

There is an apocryphal story that, when asked why a critic of Schleiermacher would have a bust of the man in such a prominent position, Barth (or another theologian) states, "You must respect the man before you can criticize him."  Or "You must understand what he was fighting against before you can criticize him."

Busts of Schleiermacher for sale. 

https://www.etsy.com/dk-en/listing/1185752458/friedrich-schleiermacher-german

 

Fierce Urgency of Now

Source:  "Beyond Vietnam:  A Time to Break Silence" by Martin Luther King, Jr. (April 4, 1967)

Keywords: chairos, kronos, time, procrastination, when, timing,

"We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked and dejected with a lost opportunity. The 'tide in the affairs of men' does not remain at the flood; it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is deaf to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residue of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words: 'Too late.'"

Predestination and Human Responsibility

SOURCE:  Attributed to J.I. Packer.  Looking for a source.  

KEYWORDS:  free-will, predestination, salvation, grace,  

Although this is not a quote, the illustration has been attributed to J. I. Packer.  The speaker says his pastor did not originate the illustration.  According to John Piper, Packer called this tension between God's sovereignty and human responsibility an "antinomy"—"an appearance of contradiction between conclusions which seem equally logical, reasonable or necessary".  This illustration certainly is of a similar character.  

My pastor once gave me a good illustration of free will and predestination:

You come to an arch inscribed with Christ's words: "Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest."  You stand staring at it, consider, and walk through. On the other side, you can see that the arch has another inscription on the back: "In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons."

Don't turn from Christ for fear that you're "not predestined." Accept his invitation, knowing that if you do, it was because he loved you first.

 

Christmas Love

SOURCE:  L’Engle, Madeleine. Winter Song. New York: Vanguard Press, 1961.

KEYWORDS:  Sin, Incarnation, Broken, Healing, Survival, Resistance, Christmas, Jesus

Winter Song is a collection of poems by Madeleine L'Engle that meditates on winter as a season of waiting, silence, and hard-won hope. The poems engage themes of faith, doubt, suffering, and incarnation with theological seriousness and emotional restraint.

The Maker’s hand flung stars across the night with angels bursting forth from galaxies, new music singing from the spheres in harmonies that blessed the dancing of the first-born light. 

And then the light was darkened by an earth dimmed by torn dreams, saddened by shrill pride. Stars faded, lost their story, and died. The dance distorted in strange lies and anger. Love’s hand again was lifted. In a manger again the Maker of the stars gave birth.

"Footsteps in the Sand" as a Limerick

Source:  Floating around the Internet

Keywords:  Grace, God, Forgiveness, Love, Footsteps

Just found this floating around the internet.  Taking famous poems and rewriting them as limericks.  As an appetizer, here is "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe reimagined as a limerick.  

The Raven

There once was a girl named Lenore

And a bird and a bust and a door

And a guy with depression

And a whole lot of questions

And the bird always says "Nevermore."

Now for the main event, "Footprints in the Sand." 

 

Footprints in the Sand

There was a man who, at low tide

Would walk with the Lord by his side

Jesus said "Now look back;

You'll see one set of tracks.

That's when you got a piggy-back ride."

The Original Poem, "Footprints in the Sand"

• https://www.poetseers.org/the-great-poets/misc-2/footprints-in-the-sand/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Footprints_(poem)

Three Advent Poems by Madeleine L'Engle

SOURCE:  https://www.saltproject.org/progressive-christian-blog/2025/12/9/three-advent-poems-by-madeleine-lengle

KEYWORDS:  Jesus, baby, birth, Joseph, Mary, Wise, Shepherds, Incarnation, Christmas

 “After Annunciation”

This is the irrational season

When love blooms bright and wild.

Had Mary been filled with reason

There’d have been no room for the child.

“Like Every Newborn”

“The Lord is King, and has put on glorious apparel;

the Lord hath put on his apparel,

and girded himself with strength:” [Psalm 93]

Like every newborn, he has come from very far.

His eyes are closed against the brilliance of the star.

So glorious is he, he goes to this immoderate length

To show his love for us, discarding power and strength.

Girded for war, humility his mighty dress,

He moves into the battle wholly weaponless.

“The Risk of Birth, Christmas, 1973”

This is no time for a child to be born,

With the earth betrayed by war & hate

And a comet slashing the sky to warn

That time runs out & the sun burns late.

That was no time for a child to be born,

In a land in the crushing grip of Rome;

Honour & truth were trampled by scorn —

Yet here did the Saviour make his home.

When is the time for love to be born?

The inn is full on the planet earth,

And by a comet the sky is torn —

Yet Love still takes the risk of birth.