You a Mystic? |

You a Mystic?

Posted by stuartdelony at 13th April, 2008

mystic forest 800 a You a Mystic?

“…unconditional and unlimited love is what the evangelist John calls God’s first love. “Let us love, he says, “because God loves us first (1 John 4:19).”

” To live a life that is not dominated by the desire to be relevant but is instead safely anchored by the knowledge of God’s first love, we have to be mystics. A mystic is a person who identity is deeply rooted in God’s first love.”

Henry Nouwen - In the Name of Jesus

So are you a mystic?

6 Responses to “You a Mystic?”

tecumsehshawnee April 13, 2008

yes, I am.

Bronco Huge April 14, 2008

Great quote by Henri Nouwen. I am re-reading that book now. I do not consider myself a “mystic” but I am learning more each day about grounding myself in the fact that He loves me. My strong work ethic background really is a tension that I have in my worthiness by “what I do” vs “who I am”. I am realizing more of this in my current role as a pastor. I desire to be completely secure and content in Christ’s love for me. Who I am in Christ will affect what I do each day.

krislinatin April 14, 2008

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mystic
good question, the word vaguely gives off a ‘mystery’ sound. like we can not know the mystery that is God.
that we use strange unknown rituals to find out about Him.
in reference to that, we don’t have the same infinite mind as God, but we can know His love for us and what He wants us to do, to be, how to live.
maybe mystic isn’t the right word to say
someone who is to be grounded in the knowledge of God (‘s first love) … is what?
saved? loved? A christian? hmmm, good question!
Maybe I just don’t have the ‘mystic’ mind set Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Cory April 14, 2008

“In the Name of Jesus” is one of my all-time favorite books. I think it’s one of those books that should be read over and over.

I can’t exactly remember the context of this quote, so I’m going to go out on a limb in suggest that Nouwen might not be using the conventional definition of “mystic” but rather referring to a spiritual person who is concerned more with the things of God rather than the nuances of culture.

stuartdelony April 14, 2008

Well I often think that mystic is a term that’s seen as bad or occultic.

One definition of the word is “a person initiated into religious mysteries.” There’s a definite passion and a mystery involved in following after the Lord. We often lose the mystery in pursuit of certainty and then lose the point [and the Lord] in process. We will never arrive, so we must never quit pursuing. And in that pursuit we learn the depth of loving the further we go…

John Tecumseh April 22, 2008

Jesus taught us that we do not need a priest, a rabbi , or any one else to pray for us to God, Jesus taught us to pray in the mystic manner which is alone and directly with God without any intermediary.
Christ is beloved by mystics as a brother totally filled with God’s presence, as should he be, by all humankind. For the mystic this statement from John 17: 21-23 alludes to ultimate truth:

That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou has sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.