Why "St. Cuthbert's Island"?

Saint Cuthbert was a Celtic monk who lived in the 7th century.
He received visitors at his monastery in Northumbria and was even appointed a bishop, but he yearned for the life of an ascetic. While living at the monastery on the island of Lindisfarne, he sought to spend time with the Lord whenever possible. Early on, he practiced solitude on a small island that was linked to Lindisfarne by a land bridge when the tide was low. This tiny island, known as Saint Cuthbert’s Island, was a training ground of sorts—a place to grow in faith and in love for God.

I chose to name my blog after this island for two reasons:
1) I hope that it will be a place where I can spend time alone with God, growing in my love for Him.
2) Perhaps, when the tide is low, others may find their way to this tiny island
and, by God’s grace, be blessed by what they find there.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Learning from Our Brothers in Christ

I haven't posted in a while, but tonight I was checking to see what some of my favorite blogs had to say.
I was blessed by Joseph's words about ambition, moved by the beautiful poetry at Wild Grace, encouraged by words of wisdom at Ben Witherington's blog, and I remembered.
I remembered why these blogs are my favorites. I have something in common with all of these folks. I am inspired to see the faith of people expressed in this format. So many of them I have never even seen, and yet I have a kinship with them. The truth of what they believe resonates with my spirit.

I wanted to recommend a post to you from Michael Spencer's blog. Liturgical Gangstas 6: Unappreciated Strengths and Overlooked Weaknesses In this post, Spencer asks Christian pastors of various denominations to assess certain "underappreciated strengths" and "overlooked weaknesses" of their tradition. The answers were pretty cool. I especially liked the Orthodox priest's comments, Joseph. I, like him, find that a practical agnositicism has crept into Christian culture, especially in the sphere of education. I am often told that any talk of faith would be "inappropriate" at school. Even Christians espouse this thinking. Tonight I read from Acts 4:18-20.
18Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. 20For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."

I was convicted that I too have been more concerned with being politically correct than with speaking about "what I have seen and heard."

Anyway, I hope you read the post I've linked to. It's a good one.
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