Reversed Thunder: Chapter 3: The Last Word on Christ

Published November 3rd, 2007 3 Comments Print This Post Print This Post

But let your hand be on the man of your right hand,
the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself!
Then we shall not turn back from you;
give us life, and we will call upon your name!

Restore us, O LORD God of hosts!
Let your face shine, that we may be saved!

Psalm 80: 17-19

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.

Revelation 1:12-13

Is the Christ of the Gospels, imagined and loved within the dimensions of a Mediterranean world, capable of still embracing and still forming the centre of our prodigiously expanded universe? Is the world not in the process of becoming more vast, more close, more dazzling than Jehovah? Will it not burst our religions asunder? Eclipse our God?

Teilhard De Chardin

The Revelation of John is both about and by means of Jesus Christ; His words cannot be eclipsed. Let’s check out some final words on Christ in Revelation 1:12-20.

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Reversed Thunder: Chapter 2: The Last Word on Scripture

Published November 3rd, 2007 6 Comments Print This Post Print This Post

Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

Psalm 1:1-2 (ESV)

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

Revelation 1:3 (ESV)

And from that City from which we have come on pilgrimage, letters have arrived for us: these are the Scriptures.

St. Augustine

Here we start at the beginning (good place to start, eh?). Peterson takes us through Revelation 1:1-11. May we, as with all scripture, truly hear what God has revealed to us.

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Reversed Thunder: Chapter 1: Famous Last Words

Published October 4th, 2007 1 Comment Print This Post Print This Post

I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old,
things that we have heard and known,
that our fathers have told us.
We will not hide them from their children,
but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might,
and the wonders that he has done.

Psalm 78.2-4 (ESV)

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John…

Revelation 1.1 (ESV)

The more one studies his [St. John’s] book, the moreconvinced one feels that it was deliberately composed as a coda or finale to the whole canon.

Northrop Frye

Here we are at the beginning of another book study… looking at the end of the Great Book. What will John reveal to us through his words along with Eugene’s thoughts? Let’s find out!

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Reversed Thunder: A Reversed Thunder Reading Schedule

Published September 22nd, 2007 9 Comments Print This Post Print This Post

PRAYER. (I) by George Herbert

PRAYER the Churches banquet, Angels age,
Gods breath in man returning to his birth,
The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,
The Christian plummet sounding heav’n and earth ;

Engine against th’ Almightie, sinner’s towre,
Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,
The six daies world-transposing in an houre,
A kinde of tune, which all things heare and fear ;

Softnesse, and peace, and joy, and love, and blisse,
Exalted Manna, gladnesse of the best,
Heaven in ordinarie, man well drest,
The milkie way, the bird of Paradise,

Church-bels beyond the stars heard, the souls bloud,
The land of spices, something understood.

And with a piece of this poem, Eugene Peterson begins Reversed Thunder a look at the book of Revelation… and so much more.

Sal and I have have thought that a mid-September through December would be a good time to read the book and comment and then have a break that could be used for additional comments and discussion before the Lenten season. How does that sound? As more specific dates are determined, I will post those here.

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Reversed Thunder: A New Devotional: Reversed Thunder

Published September 19th, 2007 0 Comments Print This Post Print This Post

Reversed Thunder by Eugene PetersonIt is about time we get on the ball again and start back up our family devotional. Our A Long Obedience in the Same Direction devotional went really well I think (you can still discuss and comment, check out the Long Obedience page!) This time around we will be reading another Eugene Peterson book: Reversed Thunder: The Revelation of John & the Praying Imagination. For all the links to the various chapters and discussions, check out the Reversed Thunder page. Huzzah!

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