Artist Retreat 2006

Today was the beginning of a two-day artist retreat here in Nashville, sponsored by Porter's Call. Last year, the guest speaker was Don Miller; this year it's Brennan Manning. He spoke tonight about healing our image of God and ourselves-- God's love, the fear of the Lord, and how Jesus frees us of fear of the Father and dislike of ourselves.

He talked about how the Biblical meaning of the fear of the Lord is 1) silent wonder, 2) radical amazement, and 3) affectionate awe. He said that in parts of France, on Easter morning, people greet each other with the phrase "L'amour de Dieu est folie!" ("The love of God is folly!"). God's love makes no sense to us, it's foolishness, as Jesus explained in the parable of the crazy farmer.

More tomorrow...