May my mouth speak

I will extol You, my God and King, and bless Your name forever and ever.
Everyday I will bless You and praise Your name forever and ever.
Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable.

One generation shall commend Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts.
On the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works, I will meditate.
They shall speak of the might of Your awesome deeds, and I will declare Your greatness.
They shall pour forth the fame of Your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.

The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
The LORD is good to all, and His mercy is over all that He has made.

All Your works shall give thanks to You, O LORD, and all Your saints shall bless You!
They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom and tell of Your power, to make known to the children of man Your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of Your kingdom.
Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your domain endures throughout all generations.
The LORD is faithful in all His words and kind in all His works.
The LORD upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in due season.
You open Your hand; You satisfy the desire of every living thing.
The LORD is righteous in all His ways and kind in all His works.
The LORD is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth.
He fulfills the desire of those who fear Him; He also hears their cry and saves them.
The LORD preserves all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy.

My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD, and let all flesh bless His holy name forever and ever.

-Psalm 145

Convicting, challenging, questioning, revealing

I just finished a book by Brian McLaren entitled "Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope". The book was very compelling and often convicting. I can't say that I agreed with everything that Brian talked about, but truthfully, I'm not necessarily sure that you should agree with everything you read, but that's neither here nor there. My purpose of this post isn't to dissect the book or even write a review on it as I am still processing a lot of it's contents. There are two things that stuck with me over these past two days that I have been contemplating and mulling over. They are both quotations from the book that recently I found very convicting, challenging, questioning, and revealing to how I look at my faith.

"Sadly, in too many quarters we continue to reduce the scope of the gospel to the individual soul and the nuclear family, framing it in a comfortable, personalized format--it's all about personal devotions, personal holiness, and a personal Savior. This domesticated gospel will neither rock any boats nor step out of them into stormy waters. We have in many ways responded to the big global crises of our day with an incredible, shrinking gospel. The world has said, 'No thanks.'" Everything Must Change, ch. 28 p. 244



"Christianity stands or falls with its revolutionary protest against violence, arbitrariness and pride of power and with its plea for the weak. Christians are doing too little to make these points clear rather than too much. Christendom adjusts itself far too easily to the worship of power. Christians should give more offense, shock the world far more, than they are doing now. Christians should take a stronger stand in favor of the weak rather than considering first the possible right of the strong." -Dietrich Bonhoeffer in a sermon on 2 Cor. 12:9