You cannot conceive...nor can I or anyone -- the appalling strangeness of the mercy of God.
~ Graham Greene, Brighton Rock
Love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in dreams.
Love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in dreams.
~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
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Two writers, both of whom in their work explore that portion of the landscape of the Christian religion ignored by those who prefer to pass the whole thing off as a saccharine enterprise of love unadulterated by reality ~ I suppose it's time to stop dabbling and read their entire corpora of work.
The experience of the cross is a bitter and bleak one. The invitation to accompany Jesus there is a window into an unsettling and strangely brilliant universe.
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I am working hard on understatement here.
6 comments:
I have always thought the call to truly live the message of Jesus is a very difficult and daunting task. Social justice is not something that is easily won - being mindful and aware of social injustices can be excruciatingly painful. Loving one's enemies and turning the other cheek are extremely difficult.
The disciples were asked to give up everything and follow him - how many of us would do that if asked?
Hmmm - a bit of a ramble but it's what this post evoked from me.
Got to keep my eyes peeled for some Graham Greene. Read one a few years ago and appreciated it greatly though, off hand, I can't recall the title. Yeah, The Brothers...gonna have a go at that one, too, one of these days.
Deftly understated, GG.
Mich
Graham Greene taught me that it was possible to be a Christian writer and deal with the ugly side of life. For that, I will always be indebted to him.
Yes, Greene, and Flannery O'Connor, and Dostoyevsky, of course.
Have you read any Frederick Buechner? Good writer who is Christian. Lets the story tell itself rather than forcing it to confirm to an obvious (and most often safe) christian agenda.
Mich
Yes, I've read almost all of Buechner. In fact, he is probably going to get quoted in this blog soon.
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