27 November 2009 2 Comments

The shortest quote in this series:-

‘Humility consists in being precisely the person you actually are before God’.

By Thomas Merton

I remember a phrase that I heard a few years ago that is a variation on this. It goes something like;

‘At the end of time God will not ask you why were you not Moses, St Paul, Mother Theresa, etc etc. He will ask you why you were not Graham Peacock’ (obviously- insert your own name at the end there. I can think of nothing worse than a world filled with me).

If you have been following this series, you will note that I end with a traditional hymn (and if you want to know why, check out http://diggingalot.org/diggingalot/?p=2385) that either follows this quote or takes it wider.

Today’s hymn is HP673 ‘Dear Lord and Father of Mankind’ (yes I know- not gender neutral, but beautiful nonetheless. I also know that the hymn as we sing it today was originally much longer; the longer first part being a diatribe against Anglicanism). A lot of hymns/songs seem to express striving in a negative way. This seems much more gentle and accepting of who you are -flawed and failing sometimes, but also accepting…