The experiential reality of perceiving God is unfamiliar territory today. The pace and preoccupation of urbanized, mechanized, collectivized, secularized modern life are such that any sort of inner life…is very hard to maintain…And if you attempt it, you will certain seem eccentric to your peers, for nowadays involvement in a stream of activities is decidedly in, and the older idea of a quiet, contemplative life is just as decidedly out…The concept of a Christian life as sanctified rush and bustle still dominates, and as a result, the experiential side of Christian holiness remains very much a closed book. (J.I. Packer, quoted in Bruce Demarest’s Satisfy Your Soul)
The Eagle & Child
I can smell you!
Reading
The Looking Glass War - John Le Carre
6 responses so far ↓
1 Anonymous // Feb 18, 2010 at 12:47 am
“The experiential reality of perceiving God is unfamiliar territory today…the experiential side of Christian holiness remains very much a closed book. ”
Pursue it with everything you got. It’s worth about everything else rolled into one and times’d by a kajillion. And that’s an understatement:)
2 Toni // Feb 18, 2010 at 3:25 am
Have you lined up a bunch of other people’s quotes Marc, while you’re fasting the net?
Let me know when you start posting your own stuff again and I’ll come back to read it.
3 Linea // Feb 18, 2010 at 7:24 am
I can appreciate your quotes – you are probably up to your eyeballs in reading. I sure am. And we get to read some good stuff.
This is a good reflection on how busyness invades our lives and our spiritual lives too. A “holy rush” indeed.
4 Marc // Feb 18, 2010 at 1:00 pm
Toni: I’m not fasting from my blog–it doesn’t get much attention as it is. But I have not been inspired much lately and am quite overwhelmed with reading, so it shows up here. I may post my own stuff tomorrow or not again until next week.
5 Toni // Feb 18, 2010 at 5:03 pm
Okie doke. Maybe because you’re reading so much all this stuff is what’s having to pass through you, sucking away the inspiration?
6 Phil L // Feb 21, 2010 at 3:38 pm
A challenging quote, especially during the Winter Olympics when I have full access to the remote.