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So, I said I was going to post on this book by Stanley...so I'm finally going to type what I wrote in my journal about chapter 1.

Ch1: 'Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.'

Look, Stanley's a beast. I think I've read this chapter 6 times now and I'm still not fully sure I get it. and that might be the point.  So, here's what I'm thinking now:

- Our tendency to think of life as revolving around us has led to some amazingly awful things and gross mis-understandings.

- the instinct of self-preservation...physically and emotionally can be very powerful.

A few quotes from the book that stuck out to me:

- "...as soon as we begin to think this is all about us, about our need for forgiveness, bathos drapes the cross, hiding from us the reality that here we first and foremost see God." (pg. 28)

- "Ironically, by trying to understand what it means for us to need forgiveness, to often our attention becomes focused on something called the 'human condition' rather than the cross and the God who hangs there." (pg.28)

- "We are made members of a kingdom governed by a politics of forgiveness and redemption." (pg.31)

Some final thoughts and questions...feel free to answer...

- Have we made forgiveness so trite that we fail to realize the enormity of these words?

- To follow Jesus...to declare Him King, means my life isn't for me or even about me...but about continually declaring His kingdom and the invitation to be a part of it.