Awesome Blog Challenge # 05: hyposyncrasy
hypocrisy + idiosyncrasy = hyposyncrasy
Never mind the attempt to coin a new term. A Filipino idiosyncrasy might just be our penchant for deflecting blame, so...
What if we apply the hatred we have for corrupt governance, wickedness of our supposed protectors of justice, and all-around grave misconducts of public figures to ourselves, in our most private corruptions?
Showing posts with label Awesome Challenge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Awesome Challenge. Show all posts
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Monday, September 22, 2014
Petition + Praise: A Consideration of Psalm 22
Awesome Blog Challenge # 03:
Petition + Praise: A Practical Consideration of Psalm 22
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Looking at the surface, this might just be what we know of Psalm 22. Our Lord Jesus cried out this line, hanging on the cross, bearing the despairing weight of sin. Despair engulfed our Lord, as despair engulfed David as he wrote this psalm. What do we do with sadness? With all the happiness questing that we are pursuing and the happiness aesthetic that we are seeing, what do we do with sadness? We live in an age where the phrase “don’t worry, be happy” is quite appropriate. Lalo na sa ating mga Pinoy. Gaano man kalakas na unos, nahahanap pa rin ang ngiti.
But sadness has a place in life. I am certain that we all have faced some form of sadness, one way or another: the loss of loved one, rejection, and disappointment. The place of sadness is:
Sorrow is better than laughter,
for by sadness of face the heart is made glad.
The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth (Ecc. 7:3)
The Necessity of Sorrowful Petition
Sorrow allows us to think seriously. It is quite obvious that despairing moments necessitate petitions. Sorrow leads us to find refuge. And if we are believers, we know that we can go to God, our refuge, our strength, our ever present help, even in time of sorrow.
Someone who does not sense his need has no want for petition. He has already determined that whatever consists of his wants and needs are taken care of.
Our morning prayer times are just that: times for prayer. It’s short. This is a reminder for all. We read a passage of Scripture, the Psalms (where all human emotions can be found, and where true rest for the humble soul can be found in God). Then pray. That simple.
The Corrective of Praise
The second thing I would like to note in this psalm is the corrective to most of our prayers: praise. It is somewhat pragmatic. The pragmatic approach that I propose for manifesting praise is not without its seeming complications. Praise, or praise and worship, is quite complex and polarising these days. I am not occupied with talking of styles nor forms. What I mean by praise is the act and motive behind it. Stripped of any aesthetic, praise ought to stand by itself. This is why I am convinced that praise is corrective to depression. It is not guitars. It is not elaborate music or poetry. It is a heart seeking to give thanks despite despair.
Nagsimula sa malalim na kalungkutan: kahirapan sa buhay. Isang pantuwid sa madalas nating baluktot na pag-iisip sa pananalangin: oo, kailangan ng paghahain ng pangangailangan at damdamin. Ngunit minsa’y nalilimutan ang pagbibigay puri sa Diyos. Walang masama sa pagiging malungkot. Ang sumulat ng awit na ito ay pinakikita ang malalim na pighati. Ngunit sa kanyang pighati, makikita ang liwanag ng Diyos. Liwanag na binibigay ng pagbibigay-puri sa Kanya.
Friday, September 19, 2014
Waterproof
Awesome Blog Challenge #02: Waterproof
The rainy season has started. For what it's worth I already had two flood-wading experiences, much thanks to the consistently terrible Espana drainage system. And just this morning I tried heading to the office since I left my laptop for safety, since it was raining last night. Let's just say a gushing river, Araneta Avenue in normal days, stopped me from continuing in my quest. Treading through murky waters provide the much needed sense of mystery that breaks the banality of everyday life.
I remember a motto printed onto a shirt, right after (if I am not mistaken) typhoon Ondoy almost five years ago:
"The Filipino spirit is waterproof."
I am not certain if the shirt was being sold for a cause. I think it was. It's nice, actually. The motto, I mean. Sounds nice, feels nice. Oddly enough, it's always relevant, as the country is a usual client of torrential rains and of typhoons (around 20 per year according to studies). Being an active participant and observer in disaster operations after the super typhoon Haiyan, all I can say is that those who help, sacrificially, are worthy of commendation. And those who survive profoundly find some semblance of joy despite the deluge. It is as if, they are waterproof.
Yet something is off. I think I will not find myself alone in sensing that something is a bit off. All this fine-sounding one-liners feel like a consolation prize. To be sure, character is tested, tempered, and tried in desperate situations. Twenty typhoons a year is not a joke. But there is such a thing as capacity building, risk mitigation, and all sorts of preventive activities. The sense of mystery returns: just what is it that keeps us from failing to learn from previous tragedies? Why are there close-to-nothing improvements? If there is, it is devoid of any discernible system. The improvements in Espana, for example, has made our situation worse. Since they tried to augment parts of it, our location has become the flood basin. Apparently, no one has taken into account that into the plan. (Or was it the plan all along?)
The country should not be surprised if the people keep on complaining about the flooding situation. However, if those in rule would want to change things they must remember that doing the same thing, or nothing at all, over and over again and expecting different results is insanity. The Filipino spirit may be waterproof, but hopefully, foolproof as well.
The rainy season has started. For what it's worth I already had two flood-wading experiences, much thanks to the consistently terrible Espana drainage system. And just this morning I tried heading to the office since I left my laptop for safety, since it was raining last night. Let's just say a gushing river, Araneta Avenue in normal days, stopped me from continuing in my quest. Treading through murky waters provide the much needed sense of mystery that breaks the banality of everyday life.
I remember a motto printed onto a shirt, right after (if I am not mistaken) typhoon Ondoy almost five years ago:
"The Filipino spirit is waterproof."
 |
| Convincingly halted by Araneta Ave. River |
Yet something is off. I think I will not find myself alone in sensing that something is a bit off. All this fine-sounding one-liners feel like a consolation prize. To be sure, character is tested, tempered, and tried in desperate situations. Twenty typhoons a year is not a joke. But there is such a thing as capacity building, risk mitigation, and all sorts of preventive activities. The sense of mystery returns: just what is it that keeps us from failing to learn from previous tragedies? Why are there close-to-nothing improvements? If there is, it is devoid of any discernible system. The improvements in Espana, for example, has made our situation worse. Since they tried to augment parts of it, our location has become the flood basin. Apparently, no one has taken into account that into the plan. (Or was it the plan all along?)
The country should not be surprised if the people keep on complaining about the flooding situation. However, if those in rule would want to change things they must remember that doing the same thing, or nothing at all, over and over again and expecting different results is insanity. The Filipino spirit may be waterproof, but hopefully, foolproof as well.
Sunday, September 14, 2014
The Special
Awesome Blog Challenge #01: The Special
What is the most difficult prayer to pray? To be sure, even understanding the concept of true prayer is difficult enough. See, anyone can pray. Any religion affords for its followers a form of communication with its deity. One-way. Now, whether the deity hears the prayer or not is an altogether lengthy topic that is beyond my brief introspection.
Biblical prayer presents fundamentally different. Scanning the Bible with regards to prayer, we find something that's peculiar: God speaks. It is not merely that He speaks, but it can be seen that He responds to prayer, whether positively or negatively. The God of the Bible even defines the prayer that is acceptable to Him. At its root, biblical prayer offers to us something else: it necessitates a relationship. The line of communication flows two-way: God to man, man to God. There is a peculiar, yet very real intimacy in biblical prayer. A cursory read of the Psalms reflect this truth vividly.
As to my question this might be the most difficult prayer: "not my will, but Yours be done." Or one rendition of that prayer that comes to mind is: "Lord, may I not interfere with what You are doing."
Common Christian messaging saturates us that we are God's instruments. And indeed we are. But others think that they are part of God's "top of the line." Close to being indispensable. But mostly and in reality, we are particularly poor instruments. We are jars of clay, to use the Bible's wording. We are not golden vessels.
The last thing the world would have us believe is that we are NOT special. The particular bent of stressing one's significance in the kingdom is assuming one's special role in the kingdom. In the Scriptures, the peculiarity, the holiness and the all-around "special"-ness of God's people is almost always a group description. The church together is special. The church being the church, in application of the discipleship commission of God, and of the one-another's, is special. If we are all lean towards over-stressing individual "special"-ness, we might not be thinking rightly about God's kingdom work. There are real repercussions and harm, a messiah complex being the worst, done in "service" to God. Then again, we tend to think highly of ourselves.
I honestly and personally think that God can afford in NOT using us. I mean, the world existed before I was born. But the problem is that we cannot afford it. Sometimes, my "special"-ness would like me to believe that I contribute a big chunk to kingdom work. Yet in most moments I come to the realization that I might be standing in opposition to it. I am not proposing not fulfilling my role, or continuing in some form of mediocrity. But any role that I play must be seen in the light of the beautifully woven context of God's church. The apostle Paul unpacks what most of us, as we wade in the world's sea of individualism, seem to forget: "through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places." The church is God's manifold wisdom, and that directs us how to pray. It does provide an extreme difficulty, because this is not how we pray. I am not the special. The church is the special.
 |
| Not everything is awesome, as much as we want it to be |
What is the most difficult prayer to pray? To be sure, even understanding the concept of true prayer is difficult enough. See, anyone can pray. Any religion affords for its followers a form of communication with its deity. One-way. Now, whether the deity hears the prayer or not is an altogether lengthy topic that is beyond my brief introspection.
Biblical prayer presents fundamentally different. Scanning the Bible with regards to prayer, we find something that's peculiar: God speaks. It is not merely that He speaks, but it can be seen that He responds to prayer, whether positively or negatively. The God of the Bible even defines the prayer that is acceptable to Him. At its root, biblical prayer offers to us something else: it necessitates a relationship. The line of communication flows two-way: God to man, man to God. There is a peculiar, yet very real intimacy in biblical prayer. A cursory read of the Psalms reflect this truth vividly.
As to my question this might be the most difficult prayer: "not my will, but Yours be done." Or one rendition of that prayer that comes to mind is: "Lord, may I not interfere with what You are doing."
Common Christian messaging saturates us that we are God's instruments. And indeed we are. But others think that they are part of God's "top of the line." Close to being indispensable. But mostly and in reality, we are particularly poor instruments. We are jars of clay, to use the Bible's wording. We are not golden vessels.
The last thing the world would have us believe is that we are NOT special. The particular bent of stressing one's significance in the kingdom is assuming one's special role in the kingdom. In the Scriptures, the peculiarity, the holiness and the all-around "special"-ness of God's people is almost always a group description. The church together is special. The church being the church, in application of the discipleship commission of God, and of the one-another's, is special. If we are all lean towards over-stressing individual "special"-ness, we might not be thinking rightly about God's kingdom work. There are real repercussions and harm, a messiah complex being the worst, done in "service" to God. Then again, we tend to think highly of ourselves.
I honestly and personally think that God can afford in NOT using us. I mean, the world existed before I was born. But the problem is that we cannot afford it. Sometimes, my "special"-ness would like me to believe that I contribute a big chunk to kingdom work. Yet in most moments I come to the realization that I might be standing in opposition to it. I am not proposing not fulfilling my role, or continuing in some form of mediocrity. But any role that I play must be seen in the light of the beautifully woven context of God's church. The apostle Paul unpacks what most of us, as we wade in the world's sea of individualism, seem to forget: "through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places." The church is God's manifold wisdom, and that directs us how to pray. It does provide an extreme difficulty, because this is not how we pray. I am not the special. The church is the special.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)