Welcome to the Bloggy Book Club, where we shall read to our heart's content.



Scroll down the blog for this month's discussion questions. Read the book and comment on the blog. And have fun!!!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

March: Practicing the Presence of God (Brother Lawrence)

Feel free to share your general thoughts and opinions on the book - the plot, the characters, the style of writing, the setting, whatever strikes you. Also, you're invited to reference any scenes or passages you found memorable (for whatever reason).

If you'd prefer to answer questions rather than write freestyle, here are some:

1. Did you like the book? Why or why not?
2. Would you read it again or recommend it to a friend?
3. Who was your favorite character, and why?
4. Did it make you think? What about?
5. Did it make you happy or sad, afraid or hopeful...what did it make you feel, was there an overall impression when you finished it?

6 comments:

Rissalee said...

Okay, first, some serious kudos to Brother Lawrence and Joseph de Beaufort (the guy who penned the book). If I'm honest, just reading the book wore me out - so I can't imagine actually LIVING it. Brother Lawrence was a monk. A monk I am not. That said, there were some things that struck me as important - and other things that I thought were a bit over the top...like Lawrence was trying to earn God's favor/love through acts that seemed more like penance than anything else. (Am I making any sense here?)

Examples:

Something that bothered me: (P9) Lawrence says, "Knowing that God can remedy the mischiefs [sinners] do whenever He pleases, he (Lawrence) does not let the sins of the world trouble him." First, if God IS able to remedy such whenever He pleases, it hurts me deeply that He has not done more to remedy the ills of this world. Second, even if I affirmed what Lawrence says about God, the sins of the world would still "trouble" me. I do not know how to be so unaffected - maybe that gift is part of the monastic life, in all aspects?

Props to Brother Lawrence for the following:

Would that I, too, were now governed by love without selfish views.

Would that I, too, whenever I fail in my responsibilities would simply confess my fault and then give myself no further concern about the matter (P12).

Would that I, too, learn not to worry about anything and to fear nothing.

On this note, it struck me that Brother Lawrence might be a little bit worried about not succeeding at fully serving the Lord. And also a little bit afraid of offending the Lord. Perhaps this type of worry and fear drove him to the monastic life? Or propelled him in what seemed at times to be self-abasing acts in efforts to "win" God's love??

I did like that he made clear that (without any anxiety), we should expect the pardon of our sins only from the blood of Jesus Christ, but then he confused me when he seemed to support bodily mortifications - as long as they included the love of God?

All in all, I think I need to read this book at a time when my head is not so focused on other "deep thoughts." Maybe then I could wrap my brain around what he was saying a little bit better. As it was, I kept thinking, WOW. I can't believe anyone actually lived this way. (And I suppose monks still do!)

In closing, two things: I used to think being a monk would be cool - even the kind that take a vow of silence and live in the hills and spend their days communing with God and nature (quietly). After reading this book, I don't think the hermit life is for me, even if allowed to speak. But, I think Lawrence was on to something vital (and rare) when he spoke of experiencing the presence of God continually - not just in church or in a particular setting or during a set "prayer time" or time of Bible reading...but in every little thing in every little moment, allowing God access to the deep places of our heart, and letting Him stay there - Him in us, us in Him. Sounds like what Jesus meant when he spoke of "abiding"...Lawrence was definitely further along this road less traveled than I am.

Jane said...

I do have a couple of thoughts on this book, but I am at work and my bookis at home. I'll take a look a the sections I highlighted when I get home in a few hours and leave another comment.

Rissalee said...

mjm: are you home yet? :o)

Jane said...

Nope not yet!!!! :)

Jane said...

After working 6 hours, I was told to go home because of low census. I am on call though...basically I have to have my cell phone on and be back at the hospital within 30 minutes if the census increases. Since I slept all day, I thought I would finally share some thoughts!

Overall, I enjoyed the book...Found myself a little frustrated with the vocabulary and flow but once I got into the book there are some good nuggets.

Examples:

Fourth Letter, paragraph 6- "...we are to be pitied who content ourselves with so little. God, saith he, has infinite treasure to bestow, and we take up with a little sensible devotion, which passes in a moment. Blind as we are, we hinder God and stop the current of His graces. But when He finds a soul penetrated with a lively faith, He pours into it His graces and favors plentifully; there they flow like a torrent which, after being forcibly stopped against its ordinary course, when it has bound a passage, spreads itself with impetuosity and abundance."

This reminds me of a quote by A.W. Tozer, "Before we can be filled with the Spirit, the desire to be filled must be all-consuming. It must be for the time the biggest thing in the life, so acute, so intrusive as to crowd out everything else. The degree of fullness in any life accords perfectly with the intensity of true desire. We have as much of God as we actually want."

I think we often settle for much less than God desires for us...at least I know I have.

Paragraph 8- "We must, nevertheless, always work at it, because not to advance in the spiritual life is to go back. But those who have the gale of the Holy Spirit go forward even in sleep,"

Makes me think not growing is actually taking a step back when speaking about one's spiritual walk.

Tenth letter, 3rd paragraph- "Do not, then, forget Him, but think on Him often, adore Him continually, live and die with Him; this is the glorious employment of a Christian. In a word, this is our profession; if we do not know it, we must learn it."

There were several other good nuggets within these letters...living a life that constantly thinks on and revolves around God...the importance of discipline in the Christian life...the idea that God cannot possess a heart that is full of other "things", but I must confess that were some...well, troubling ideas in the book.

Just wondering what other people thought about letters 11, 12, and 13?

(If any of these thoughts do not make sense or do not seem coherent, I do apologize...it is 3:57 am and I am on cold medicine...I am calling it a day as I feel it is safe to finally go to sleep.)

Unknown said...

MJM: I love A.W. Tozer! :) Good quote!

I remember first reading this book back when I was in 9th grade? at a friend's house. She was packing for camp and I was reading it while she packed (and due to it's brevity, was able to finish it! ha). So it was nice to go through it again with a more "mature" mind and more life experience behind me... us as the "menial" work of school, career, house, and life. I don't think I was able to relate to the "drudge of life" when I first read it. But it is more applicable to me now! I feel consumed by the routine of life. I can agree that I have become complacent with the fact that "Many Christians can not locate God in the sameness of every day responsibilities" (Preface, para. 2). I have witnessed and experiences the phases of life when I am close to God and when I am not-- like Bro. Lawrence said, the highs and lows of life. It is the "in-between" mundaneness that is the difficult part. That is why I think his story and his words speak to so many people for so many years... we can all relate to mundane life! If someone asks me how I feel about God, I want to have the same reply as Bro. Lawrence: "Experiencing God's presence is a way of life-- a practice" (Introduction). But I am humbled by his humility in that he said he had to work hard at it. That gives credit and reality to his testimony.

As I was reading, I kept picturing St. Francis of Assisi. I think Brother Lawrence reminds me of him through his simplicity. How I long for simplicity... a very hard concept in American culture.

One of my favorite parts of his letters was his approach to prayer: "The most excellent method he had found of going to God was that of doing our common business without any view of pleasing men, and (as far as we are capable) purely for the love of God" (9). Ultimately, "his prayer was nothing else but a sense of the presence of God." I think that is a truth statement that we often forget. Prayer is life. It is not the bowing of our heads in church-- it is how we act and speak and communicate with God. Because of that, I agree that "It is not necessary for being with God to always be at church" (25).

Also, I like how he said "There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God" (23). AMEN!