Lisa Notes: R.I.P. Brennan Manning

We lost a true voice of grace yesterday.

But even though we’ll no longer hear new words from Brennan Manning, we can still learn from the ones already published.

Brennan was authentic. He revealed more of himself than sometimes we even wanted to know. He showed us that he, like us, also had an ugly side.

But because he was see-through, we could behold Jesus on his inside. His relationship with the Lord, like ours, wasn’t perfect, but it was real.

Read his words slowly, and delight with him on the joys of familial intimacy with our blood-Brother:

What is indeed crucial to the evangelical enterprise is the awareness that we ourselves are the primary target.

It is not “they” who are poor, sinful, and lost. It is ourselves.

Unless we acknowledge that we are the sinners, the sick ones, and the lost sheep for whom Jesus came, we do not belong to the “blessed” who know that they are poor and inherit the Kingdom.

Whatever else it may be, prayer is first and foremost an act of love.

Before any pragmatic, utilitarian, or altruistic motivations, prayer is born of a desire to be with Jesus.

His incomparable wisdom, compelling beauty, irresistible goodness, and unrestricted love lure us into the quiet of our hearts where he dwells. To really love someone implies a natural longing for presence and intimate communion.

When the Crucified One says, “I’m dying to be with you,” and then whispers, “Will you die a little to be with me?” my sluggish spirit is stirred (unfortunately not always) to prefer the pleasure of his company to whatever trinket of creation is mesmerizing me at the moment.

The church and the Bible are not substitutes for God; they are means through which we make conscious contact with Jesus Christ.

They are the place of encounter with the compassionate One, who reveals himself in sundry ways and diverse temperaments.

~ BRENNAN MANNING
A Glimpse of Jesus