Abba's Way

By Stephen C. Rose

In Abba's Way, Jesus returns to set the world's religions straight.
Abba is the shockingly-familiar Aramaic name for God that Jesus uses in the Lord's Prayer. Jesus argues that this very Abba is within each of us, ready to change our lives for the better. If we only have eyes to see.

In 70 brief poetic essays, Jesus explains how we can move the world from its present violent precipice to a global society built around negotiation, individual achievement and openness to the presence of Abba in each person.

On the occasion of the publication of Stephen C. Rose's "The Grass Roots Church", The New York Times called the author a new Martin Luther whose theses might change today's world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stephen C. Rose
• Release date: Apr 11, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476289830

Stephen C. Rose

Stephen C. Rose (1936-) was born in New York, New York, and raised there. He currently lives there. His first books "The Grass Roots Church" and "Who's Killing The Church" established him as a prominent critic of American Protestantism and American religion. He has won awards for editorial courage and for work on films. With more than 20 books to his credit, he has also worked for UN agencies, most recently editing CHOICES.

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Abba’s Way

Stephen C. Rose

Copyright © 2005 by Stephen C. Rose

Published on Smashwords

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To Harold Gomberg and Bob Lynn for encouragements that stuck with me.

After recent events—whether one gives them the name of Nietzsche, of Heidegger, of the Second World War, of the Holocaust., of the destructibility of humanity by its own technical resources—it is clear that we find ourselves in an absolutely unprecedented space.

For this space one needs equally unprecedented reflections on responsibility, on the problematics of decision and action. To say this is not a piece of speculative hubris. It simply acknowledges where we are. We need the unprecedented; otherwise there will be nothing, pure repetition.

—Jacques Derrida

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Preface

Abba’s Way reflects my sense that messianism lies at the heart of the church problem and that Nietzsche’s call for a revaluation of values has nothad many takers. It is also a response to these words of Jacques Derrida: We need the unprecedented; otherwise there will be nothing, pure repetition.

Unprecedented would be Jesus stating today what he was, and is, about.. Unprecedented would be closing the door on two millennia of history riddled by the deleterious activities of religion. Unprecedented would be a declension of Jesus which has precisely to do with responsibility and the problematics of action.

This text began as a project to turn Nietzsche’s Thus Spake Zarathustra into Thus Spake Jesus. More and more, it moved toward its present fictional representation of Jesus as someone speaking today.

The result is this first attempt to articulate what I call Abba’s Way.

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CONTENTS

1. Getting Here

2. The World Today

3. Speaking To The Pain

4. Addressing The Powers

5. Understanding Yourself

6. Ourselves and the World Around Us

7. Principalities and Powers

8. Self Overcoming

9. Create Heaven Here

10. Getting Our Thoughts Straight

11. A Deepening Faith

About the Author

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1. Getting Here

Abba’s Way

Let your imagination be your guide,

I’ll show you something new and old besides.

Note: Abba is the name that Jesus used,

Familiar, like a good father or friend,

Intimate as feeling, thought, or sense,

To name the holy one whose way he chose.

Imagine Jesus speaking now, today.

Imagine him explaining Abba’s way.

Imagine that he speaks with urgency,

The world is dying, he would have it live.

Imagine his words move beyond the page,

Awakening the world to a new stage.

Imagine his words might change history;

Imagine Abba wills such change to be.

Imagine finding Abba within you;

At hand always in all you are and do.

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On Me

I sought Abba before I sought the crowd;

I climbed the heights and waited for his word.

Temptation came but soon I was set free,

And comfort grew as Abba grew in me.

So when I came down from those lofty heights

I knew the truth, the way, the light, the life.

I knew who Abba was and where he lived.

He is the one who wills who he will be;

His home is within all with eyes to see.

And with one silent blow, religion falls,

And this world’s values likewise fall as well.

The tawdry values of this blinded world,

Can only be changed by Abba within,

And if Abba goes unknown and unheard,

Then Abba’s will in earth remains undone.

I come again to restore sight and sound,

To plead reality against all odds,

To spread the way of Abba this world round,

And free humanity from its dead gods.

But still the stock hypocrisies live on,

To them say, Naked emperors! Begonia!

I am the blasphemer if I presume

To speak for Abba. I’ll speak for myself.

Myself? I died to show that Abba lives,

The one who has the power to heal and mend,

If only we receive him as our friend.

I died to show a way that cannot fail.

I died to show that Abba will prevail.

I died because I followed Abba’s way.

I live again and Abba is close by,

At hand, beyond, above, below, inside.

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On Preaching

I come to preach life. I will not preach death.

The vision of the child, not dour frowns.

The lilt of spirit wind, not dry confines.

Bread broken well and sharing of good wine.

I come to preach life more abundantly,

To preach economies of mustard seeds;

To wear no ponderous robes but speak of light,

For Abba’s light is what this poor world needs.

My words were plain back then, they are plain now;

Rejoice. Take Abba in. Receive his love.

You are a spectrum, primal to sublime;

You overcome when Abba lifts you up.

Come celebrate. Learn silence. Then create.

You are a calling from Abba’s great heart

To be, and to become, a strong beacon;

To build new values earth can depend on.

Judge not. But be a light that can be seen.

Judge not. But let the world know Abba’s way.

Judge not. For Abba works in everything.

Let Abba’s wisdom shine in all you say.

I come to preach life. I will not preach death.

The vision of the child, not dour frowns.

The lilt of spirit wind, not dry confines.

Bread broken well and sharing of good wine.

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On Still Being Here

I said, All secrets shall be manifest

And that all hidden things shall be revealed.

Now those with eyes to see know this is so.

Realities of goodness show the truth,

Creative exploration bears new grace.

All secrets and all hidden things unfold,

To the extent we walk in Abba’s Way.

Our Abba is no hostile enemy,

Who sends harsh bolts of angry lightning down?

Abba is close as breath and whispered truth,

And within you is Abba’s presence found.

Abba was once the secret I disclosed,

A presence of pure goodness, therefore scorned;

Cross-nailed, entombed I was for saying so,

And yet I say it still, for it is true.

Abba leaves us no hiding place from choice:

Repent, reject, recoil