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Primitive religion is not believed, it is danced!

Arthur Darby Nock

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
And only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

Elizabeth Browning



Monday, March 31, 2014

Lent 23 - unlikely heroes

From the very beginning, God is able to use unlikely figures, and in one
way or another, they are always unable, inept, unprepared, and incapable.
                                                                                                Richard Rohr

When I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10)

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the Sacred always works
with the material at hand

farmer
poet
child

the tone deaf
the one who insists
“I just can’t speak in front of people”

the accountant
the bookkeeper
the machinist

yes
even the “preacher”

unlikely heroes of the faith
who because
they simply love God
and love others

touch hearts
feed the hungry
comfort the lonely
and heal souls

Sunday, March 30, 2014

The inside of the cup - inner transformation comes first

Ironically, even the Franciscan concept of “poverty” can be turned into self-aggrandizement. In St. Francis’ teachings, “poverty” is really his code word for not seeking status and upward mobility. Poverty for Francis was not about a material end in itself, but a strategy for the relinquishment of all false power. It seems to me that even some Christian radicals have too strongly identified with material poverty as an end in itself (although we could all stand to simplify our lives), and sometimes sought poverty as another form of superiority!

If you don’t have interior poverty, but need to look good and be admired and think well of yourself, then material poverty is not anything admirable at all. It is just another ego stunt. I have met too many rigid radicals and also very comfortable people who are genuinely and completely poor in spirit. The best is to be both simple in lifestyle and fully open-hearted too.

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Inner world outer world
Inner poverty, outer poverty
Inner righteousness, outer righteousness

It really is all about what happens in side
At our Center
Where we and the Sacred connect

It really is all about being permeated by love
So that we can live love
So that we can be love

Sometimes we get very humbled by this reality
I talk love and acceptance a lot
I think, except when I see people with power abusing power
I do pretty well at not being judgmental

and at other times

sigh

last night I was reading an article about some Arizona fans getting wild and upset
after a NCAA Tourney Game
the pepper spray had come out
and so of course did the comments

A respondent said something very negative about Arizona
And I type a one word response
Jerk

And I got called on it
By at least three people

And they were right
I had gotten so tired of all the negative crap,
of all the people cutting down other people,
that I responded by cutting down another person

not classy

I am sure I do this all the time when I run into things, and people, I disagree with
“Blind Pharisee!  First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.” (Matthew 23:26)

sigh
sigh again

It is tricky, this journey we are on
very tricky indeed

we often stumble
and fall
and get pretty muddy and messy down there in the mire

and all we can do is get up
and start the journey again

and go inside
and connect with the sacred
and take care of the inside of our cup!

Blessings on this Sunday

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Lent 22 - A thought for a rainy Saturday - Think about this!


WWJD – What would Jesus Do?
A catchy little phrase from a rather smaltzy book from the turn of the century

But it’s a fair question!

We of course
Being who we are
Play with this phrase a lot
Trying to making our point!

WWJS – who would Jesus Shoot (the tag for the NRA)?
WWJS  -  What would Jesus say (something we should think of re: Facebook)?
WWJL – Who would Jesus Love (applicable in our hateful times)?
WWJK – Kill?  I don’t think so, but its out there
WWJD – Who would Jesus Deport?  Provocative.  Probably no one.
WWJS – See!?  The poor, the hurting, but sadly many of us don’t see them

WWJW  - this is my new one…

Where would Jesus worship?  Or maybe better yet, WWJH, with whom would Jesus hangout  (OK, that is WWWJH).

I think this is something we could well think on.
Do you think he would be rubbing shoulders with the Wall Street Elite?  67 of whom make more than billions of other Americans?
Do you think he would be hanging out at and worshiping at Mars Hill, or Hagee’s mega hate palace, or with Osteen in his plush megachurch that pampers the pampered?

Where do you see Jesus living?
Where do you see him spending his days, or for that matter his nights?

It’s a question that may change your perspective about America’s values
America’s form of Christianity.
Your own values (it sure makes me have to think -  do I take too much, do I give enough?)
It might even inform our politics.

I have a hunch he would be hanging out with those the far right calls lazy moochers