ruthless trust

i had to share this with you, these passages, this book, have inspired a poem i've included at the end...my journal, since late june, has become little more than end to end brennan manning quotes. i usually season my journals with quotes, but words have entirely failed me this season and i find myself with nothing to say, but brennan has said it for me, and for this, i am grateful.

ruthless trust by brennan manning

"Unwavering trust is a rare and precious thing because it often demands a degree of courage that borders on the heroic. when the shadow of Jesus' cross falls across our lives in the form of failure, rejection, abandonment, betrayal, unemployment, loneliness, depression, the loss of a loved one; when we are deaf to everything but the shriek of our own pain; when the world around us suddenly seems a hostile, menacing place--at these times we may cry out in anguish, 'how could a loving God permit this to happen?' at such moments the seeds of distrust are sown. It requires heroic courage to trust in the love of God no matter what happens to us."

"Trust must be purified in the crucible of trial."

"Uncompromising trust in the love of God inspires us to thank God for the spiritual darkness that envelops us, for the loss of income, for the nagging arthritis that is so painful, and to prayfrom the heart, 'Abba, into your hands I entrust my body, mind, and spirit and this entire day--morning, afternoon, evening, and night. Whatever you want of me, I want of me, falling into you and trusting in you in the midst of my life. Into your heart I entrust my heart, feeble distracted, insecure, uncertain. Abba, unto you I abandon myself in Jesus for an unanswered prayer, to give thanks in a state of inner desolation, to trust in the love of God in the face of the marvels, cruel circumstances, obscenities, and commonplaces of life is to whisper a doxology in darkness.'"

"The scandal of God's silence in the most heartbreaking hours of our journey is perceived in retrospect as veiled, tender Presence and a passage into pure trust that is not at the mercy of the response it receives."

"Sacred scripture is too important to be left entirely to biblical scholars. Theology is too vital to be consigned solely to the province of theologians. To explore the depths of the God who invites our trust, we need the artists and mystics."

"Rahner, one of the most important theologians of the twentieth century, declared that we need these artists and mystics to disrupt our complacency."

"[Catharine of Sienna] often began her prayers, 'O Divine Madman.'"

"To artists and mystics we must add the category of clowns--those who let God out of the box of predetermined propriety."

"This unlikely trio of artists, mystics, and clowns serves the ministry of the Word by expanding our understanding of the Kabod Yahweh through their original and startling insights; They deepen our trust by reminding us to submerge the enormous difficulty of suffering and evil in the borderless sea of infinite wisdom and absolute love; they force us to pose the question, 'Is God different from what we perceive?' They lay bare the incandescent Truth long concealed by ignorance, myopia, and inauthentic tradition: our perceptions of God, of our fellow ragamuffins, and of ourselves are flat-out wrong."

"...brutal criticism had savaged her self-worth. What ensued was predictable. Send in the artist, mystics, and clowns. Their fertile imaginations pours the new wine of the gospel into fresh wineskins (Luke 5:38). With fresh language, poetic vision, and striking symbols, they express God's inexpressible Word in artistic forms that are charged with the power of God, engaging the minds and stirring our hearts as they flare and flame."

"Those who look beyond the literal see the world as a metaphor for God. When they direct us to the majesty of the mountains, to the beauty of the prairies, the variety of the wildflowers, along the roadside, the smell of mint and hay on a summer morning, the rumble of a train through the valley, the sound of a waterfall, they birth the Word in our midst. They dare us to dream of our homeland, where eye has not seen, neither has ear heard, nor has the imagination conceived of the beauty that awaits us."

"The most common form of presumption is the expectation that God will directly and secretly intervene in human affairs. We presume that by saying, 'Lord, Lord,' the cancer, or bankruptcy, or infidelity will disappear. We presume that God answers all prayers by assuring good outcomes, that food for the widows and orphans will fall from heaven, that the Holy One infallibly guarantees a baby's safe delivery, and that God will certainly sell our houses at the desired price if we plant a statue of Joseph upside down in the backyard. The theological arguments that support an interventionary God are many and varied. Frequently, people report that they have experienced a physical cure or an inner healing. And they have. 'Yet,' as John Shea writes, 'one brutal historical fact remains--Jesus is mercilessly nailed to the cross and despite the Matthean boast, twelve legions of angels did not save him that hour. No cop-out redemption theories that say God wanted it that way explain the lonely and unvisited death of God's son. This side of the grave Jesus is left totally invalidated by the Lord of heaven and earth. Trust in God does not presume that God will intervene.' Often trust begins at the far side of despair. When all human resources are exhausted, when the craving for reassurances is stifled, when we forgo control, when we cease trying to manipulate God and demystify Mystery, then--at our wits' end--trust happens within us, and the untainted cry, 'Abba, into your hands I commend my spirit,' surges from the heart."


ii kings xx


demystified Mystery
swirling pillar of cloud
blazing fire unconsuming
cloaked Revelation
veiled clarity
by Thyself again
for i have robbed Thee
of Thy mystery
i have sullied
Thy perfection
manhandling the Sovereign
i have diminished Thy greatness
in my life
forgive me
i resign
minor sovereign
i rescind
my professions
which have limited
Thy limiteless power
demystified Mystery
come to me again
in pain or glory
i receive Thy will.