Pictures of Grace, Part four of four,

the fighter for the new song - a mind on fire and a heart of creativity

Pictures of Grace, Part three of four,

Sanctifying Grace

How amazing is it to see the dawn,
to wittiness its growth as one come from meager beginnings
a light like a life known for its steady movement from darkness to destiny.
As if a viewless voiceless wheel pulls it by some invisible power,
sunshine like grace filling empty night, lifting the falling,
teaching the weak that beauty is a capacity of all things created.
A capacity through which we creep into the experience of redemption,
And gain the knowledge of redemptive action, the Awe of Amazing grace,
Grace like a sunrise in slow moving beauty.
Burns me, changes me, And I only grow hotter from its flame

Empowering Grace

How amazing it is that freedom rings in the hearts of men,
that blood and faith stands stronger than chains.
That the longing for justice is a grace to act
yet in stillness, grace slowly saturates and nations are changed

How amazing it is to see the freedom that is not free
take root in people that know not freedom
and even in chains, in hate, in the stretch of a whip
And rise, A people rise, as free men ..They rise by grace.

Grace amazing in oppressive flame
Unending grace in a shepherd's Fame
Grace amazing in inspiring ways
Unending grace in enduring waves

Grace is freeing grace
Grace is good
Grace is known as God is good.
And Good is God reaching out in love
Grace is unmatched gifts
from the fire dove.

Pictures of Grace, Part two of four,

Temptation is universal
the fork in the path - where we entertain the thought of evil.
so effortlessly, how it enslaves - how slow and calm the noose is slipped tight
till all is night and daylight hurts the eyes

then in desperation or fits of hope we cry

AND HE ALWAYS HEARS ... HE ALWAYS HEARS!

Pictures of Grace, Part one of four,

Grace can take the hate and give love
Grace can face the cold and show hope
Grace can empower those that can't stand
and stand those that try to overpower the fallen
Grace takes us as we are, for who we are,
and still call us to be more than we are ... in grace..

It is the sounds of life and the light we follow -
It is open to all for it is grace..

Compliments to Mar's hill deeply touching videos.

Steven Colbert and the Theology of SIN....

JOhn P. over at his blog VITA BREVIS tuned me on this little nugget of contra-pseudo-goodness. He writes that Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central's Colbert report is "maybe" a believer of the Catholic trad-i-tion and further a Sunday school teacher. Not sure about that but his interview with Bart Ehrman was classic. Ehrman is the University of North Carolina prof. of Theology and Church History, and author of "Miss-quoting Jesus". If you have not seen it you must, at one point Colbert states, "agnostics are people who do not have the balls to be atheists!" Ehrman is a professing agnostic. You can find the video at here. Anyway John tell us about this most resent and entertaining Colbert moment. John P. writes:

On Monday's Colbert Report, Stephen interviewed Philip Zimbardo (professor at Stanford, and author of The Lucifer Effect). Zimbardo's book discusses how "good people turn bad," using the story of Satan as its archetype. Clearly, Zimbardo isn't given ample time to explain his argument...but, essentially, he asserts that good people turn bad by assenting to an unjust authority. Unfortunately, he then goes on to make some rather flimsy theological claims about God being the source of all evil in the world.

The real highlight of the interview, however, is when Colbert deconstructs Zimbardo's claims with an impassioned defense of a more traditional Christian approach to Satan and the origin of evil. Zimbardo replies to Colbert by saying "You were taught well in Sunday School, Stephen." To which Colbert replies, "I TEACH Sunday School, mother-f*&@$!"

If you want to watch it Go Here - Colbert is like a good wine, it is only best experienced and not talked about.