Moving Past Hypocrisy Towards Christ

"If I were to be a good Franciscan, that is, Christlike, I would first of all have to be in almost all points as this peasant appears to be. That is-to set no store on pride in knowledge, or possessions, or ambitions, but completely obscure looking and acting: and with all that not envious, not ambitious, but quiet and good, and giving people things, and being patient, and working and living on little food. But being, first nobody: this peasant, obscure and dark, and silent, and not knowing much how to talk: of such were Christ's Apostles.
                                    ~ Thomas Merton, Run to the Mountain, p. 10

These are Merton's reflections after coming across an Italian immigrant woodcutter living in the depths of New York City during the beginning of World War II. He notes that this is a man who "never says anything and never understands the crazy political fellows, and is humble and poor in Spirit too and loves God and prays to Him like a child (for we all should)." Run to the Mountain, p. 70.


I recently watched an interview with Shane Claiborne. Until recently I had never heard of Mr. Claiborne but now I am waiting with anticipation to get my hands on his books! If you aren't familiar with him I'd definitely suggest getting aquainted. One thing that struck me when I heard him speaking: wow this guy really walks the walk! He is genuine and fervent in faith and puts it into action, calling others to as well. He lives in an intentional community where whatever money is made is dispersed to those in the community as needed, the rest goes to the poor. In the interview I watched he stated that if one has two coats, they have one coat too many. That if one has two coats than that means there is one person in the world that is cold that wouldn't have to be if that person with two just surrendered their material belongings in the name of compassion and love. (I'm paraphrasing). That is so true! And so very Christ-like! Why aren't more of us Christians like that?

All of this makes me wonder about all the lucrative pastors and preachers worldwide that go through the circuits and travel, spreading the Word from shore to shore and beyond. Are they really living the message out that they preach? Are they really living it out by staying in lush hotel suites when down in the streets not too far away there are those who are huddling over trash cans with small fires burning, trying to keep warm, stomachs aching, hopes faltering? Are they living it out eating at five star restaurants while there are those whose cupboards are bare, children crying, parent's hearts breaking, as they have nothing to feed them?  

Aren't we as Christians supposed to let our lights shine in the darkness? Aren't we supposed to bring the message of Christ, which is hope and love and life and light, to the hopeless and those that are wounded? One of my pet peeves is that many of these pastors preach all of these great things, but only to those that can afford a pricey ticket in order to get in to hear their message. The truth should be free! Not a means of lining one's pocket.



How does the Bible say we should go about following Christ, spreading His message?

Luke 9:23-24
 
²³ Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. ²⁴ For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.
 
 
Matthew 25:34-40  
 
 ³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
   ³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
   ⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

Enough about all the pastors that are blatant hypocrites...what about us? Are we living for Christ making God and our desire to follow Him our ultimate goal? Are we willing to give up material comforts in order to help others ? Are we willing to also let go of internal discomforts with dealing with others we might think we don't have much in common with? Sometimes it's easy to talk about those in the world that need our help and about the social justice issues that us Christians are called to engage in to help spread compassion and love without really actually putting some of those ideas into action. Mother Teresa had something to say about this:


"It's very fashionable to talk about the poor but it's not as fashionable to talk to the poor." ~Mother Teresa


Let's not let talking be more fashionable than actually walking!

Merton, who likens the woodcutter's character to that of an apostle, notes that the woodcutter, "never says anything and never understands the crazy political fellows, and is humble and poor in Spirit too and loves God and prays to Him like a child." That makes me wonder, are we Christians sometimes so involved in the political process that we forget about the spiritual process? Are we so involved in polling and advocating for our favorite politician that we forget to advocate and speak in favor of our Savior? As verse 25 in Chapter 9 of Luke reminds us, "What does it profit a man if he gains the world and loses or forfeits his life?". Politics has its place but, it is my view, that our striving to get our politicians into office should never be above our striving to get our Lord into the hearts of man.

I have so much to write about this! But I will end it here. I feel we need to pray for ourselves and our other brothers and sisters in Christ. God in America and in other parts of this world is becoming less and less real for people, less and less tangible. Less and less approachable. And I think some of that is the fault of those who bear His cross...not on their shoulders, hunched over in sweat laboring up the hill of adversity in the soul hope of bringing God glory, but by pulling it on a wagon, taking breaks whenever they tire and occasinally abandoning it as they take their rest on benches along the way. Let's get off our benches! Let's rise up and take our cross and carry it wherever God wills us to. Let's have that simple obedient faith of the woodcutter that touched Merton so deeply.


Heavenly Father,

Forgive us for sometimes putting our comfort first. For abandoning the true message of the gospel and what your disciples are called to be to pursue our own earthly ambitions. Forgive us for not approaching those who are different from us because it reminds us of all that we have and all that they don't. Help us overcome our guilt by asking for your forgiveness. Give us servant's hearts that are satisfied only by following your Will that you have for our lives. Help us rise above mediocrity of faith and take up the cross once again, with zeal, carrying your message and love and compassion with non-judgmental hearts to the weak, the weary, the hopeless-not just those that can buy a ticket. Help us be more like Jesus.

We love you, we praise you for all the blessings that you have given us and for your son Jesus, our precious redeemer who, by his blood, washed our guilt and sin away. 

In Jesus' name,
Amen. 

Finding Light in Darkness

Psalm 91:9-12 

⁹ If you say, “The LORD is my refuge,”
   and you make the Most High your dwelling,
¹⁰ no harm will overtake you,
   no disaster will come near your tent.
¹¹ For he will command his angels concerning you
   to guard you in all your ways;
¹² they will lift you up in their hands,
   so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

Does it ever seem like the dark things of life, the obstacles, ever seem to be crowding in, invading your thoughts, your moods, your perceptions with their insufferable presence? Almost like when you are walking in a forest and the gentle rays of the warm sun filter through the canopy of interlaced branches above, casting their light on the moss, illuminating it in an almost magical green hue. And then a cloud passes above and all around seems to be shrouded in a gloomy darkness, the light no longer easy to feel or find or sense. At that moment one can't help but feel utterly alone. Sometimes life can be like that. Sometimes solutions are hard to find and it seems like we stumble upon and find less answers but more roots and rocks. And when we fall, more wounds.

I have to confess, I fell this morning. I let the hardships of life steal my peace and in doing so I stumbled and fell. What I forgot to do was reach out to God in fervent prayer as soon as I felt the ground on which I stood on was shifting. When we are groundless, that's when we lose our center of gravity within our souls and our castle that we built on rock starts to turn into sand once again.

Perhaps there is a reason for us finding ourselves groundless once in awhile. Perhaps that reason might be to show us how much we need God. To show us that we are weak and he is strong. To teach us to trust in Him more and to instill in us a more natural attitude of turning to Him as soon as we know our peace is beginning to dissipate, our patience crumbling, our hope faltering.

For those that might feel a little disheartened, a little trampled this morning, let's pray. Let's pray that we get back on that rock which is God's truth, which we can stand on with confidence. Let's praise our God for the blessings which He's given. For the God of mercy that He is. In doing so, let's let the light within us illuminate our souls so much that darkness has no other choice but to flee. Let's let God heal our wounds with the power of His Spirit and let's let His eternal waters wash us clean, reviving us once again. Let's reclaim our inheritance and claim God as our only and sufficient refuge.

As I write this I don't have total peace, but even though things aren't always smooth and joyous in my life, and I'm sure in other's as well, I know God will prevail. I know if I put my hope and faith in Him, He will see me through, as the psalm above assures us.

Lord Jesus,
Son of God,
Have mercy on me a sinner.
Amen.

(The Jesus Prayer)

~abundant blessings in Christ

God Welcomes Seekers

Luke 11:9-10

⁹ “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

¹¹ “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for^[f] a fish, will give him a snake instead? ¹² Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? ¹³ If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

God welcomes those who seek the truth about His reality and seek, with all their hearts, to experience Him within, with arms outstretched. For those of us that can't find rest until we rest in the fullness of God's reality, He is there, waiting, waiting for us to knock at the door of His holy gates. For those of us that want more truth than the world has to offer, He is there. And I would suggest to not walk timidly towards the gateway of truth but to run, with all fervor and to knock with fervor, as one with a thirsty and hungry spirit. God will flood us with His Spirit when we do that, with the fullness of His joy and we will be refreshed with His eternal water, receiving inight, truth, joy and peace. We will no longer be hungry or thirsty but filled with spiritual manna and waters that give life to the soul.

I pray that those of us who are weary and  lack that desire to come before God find the desire to pursue Him with vigor, for He is the only thing that really matters in this life when it comes down to it. Perhaps a good thing to pray would be that God would awaken that desire within us to pursue our Creator, to experience the reality of Him within and all around us. I pray that we all knock continually at the His door, continually being revived, continually being refreshed so that in the strength we receive we can be an encouragment to others to do the same. So that they might see the love and light that we receive from God's holy Spirit through us and might be drawn to seek that same assurance, that same peace. God is waiting, on the other side of the door. It's just up to us to seek after Him and knock.

~many blessings in Christ

The Key To Prosperity

<sup>Jeremiah 29:11-13

11</sup> For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

God wants us to prosper, to soar, to reach the heights of our dreams and ambitions, if they are parallel with His will for our lives. For when our life bears fruit it gives glory to God. God wants our lives to be living testimonies of the power of the Spirit that works through His children, so naturally He wants the best for us! He didn't make us to be stagnant, he made us to be active agents of His kingdom, spreading love and light and hope to the world.

He also didn't intend for us to have downcast souls, wounded by the world. If we lift the eyes of our hearts to Him, seeking Him with all that is inside of us, He will lift our weary, wounded souls up into heights unimaginable.

Sometimes we all reach our plateaus in life where it seems like we've been stuck in the same place and hope for change and growth seems like a remote possibility because we've been resting in the same reality for so long. In fact, it's easy to get comfortable in such a place. We know what to expect and what is expected of us. It's also an intimidating thing sometimes, rising above our comfort zones and trying new things, growing in new ways. We have to overcome our internal inertia to do so. But God doesn't want us to fear those things, he wants us to embrace them!

The way to get out of the rut we find ourselves in sometimes? The way to overcome our fears and insecurities? As the verses in Jeremiah tell us...pray and seek God with all of our hearts!...The Holy Spirit is, I've found, the best catalyst of change and the best source of hope and nourishment a weary, tired, or stagnant soul needs in being revived. God gives us the strength and encouragement to move forward. And when we move forward, trusting in Him only and seeking Him with all our hearts we start to see great changes in our lives. I'm not talking about money falling from the sky (though that would be nice!)..but perhaps prosperity also refers to the strengthening and growth and fruitfulness of relationships. When it comes to financial prosperity, that does seem a natural byproduct of an active, fruitful life.

The key I've found to grow with God is to have a regular devotional life of prayer and reading Scripture and meditating. If we do these things mindfully, giving to them while we engage in them our full attention, then we get to know our God better so that our prayers our conformed more closely to His Will. In Scripture it says that if you ask then you will receive. I've heard that misinterpreted though in the sense that people read it as if God is magically transformed into some type of divine genie. You rub your Bible a certain way while praying and...poof! You get what you desire. That just isn't so though. The New Testament over and over again tells us that we are to conform ourselves not to this world but to Christ. When we move through the process of sanctification and the truths and reality of God blossom before us like flowers in a garden, providing beauty and light to our souls, we start to want the things God wants. And when we pray for those things, God is overjoyed in providing them to us!

It is my prayer that all who read this find joy and hope and nourishment in our great God today. It might be a good thing too if we all pray for God to reveal the areas of our lives that need change (I know I have some!) and for God's Will for us to be revealed so that we can experience the greatest amount of joy and peace and prosperity God offers those who are seekers and humble and have open hearts hungrily thirsting for His Spirit. May we manifest His will in our lives so that our God may be glorified for all of man to witness, to draw those who haven't experienced Him closer by witnessing His power working through our lives, bearing much fruit.

~Blessings in Christ

Verse of the Day: Abiding in Him

<sup>John 15:1-4 (ESV)

1</sup>"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.



"Abide in me, and I in you." A beautiful way of revealing the fact that God is always within us, we just have to open our hearts to that reality...what an amazing thing that happens when we do :) Let's abide in God today and bear some fruit!

~ Many Blessings in Christ

Enter the Gates

"The present moment is a wide-open gate leading to the depths of God."
 James Finley, Christian Meditation, p. 230

There are most likely as many ways to come before God and enter into His presence as there are people. Everyone is so unique, their souls and person stitched together in a unique and differing pattern. I would suggest ,though ,that we are all stitched together with the same thread, for we were all made in the likeness of God.  Those of us that have claimed our inheritance have God within us and if we learn to still our minds we can learn to open up to experience the presence of God and experience a peace that surpasses all understanding.

There is an immense amount of freedom I've found in experiencing the present moment. And I've found that using the tool of mindfulness in worship and prayer and in every moment is a powerful way of experiencing God's presence. I am going to write more on this, but perhaps this is sort of an introduction to this subject on my blog. Oh, and I just want to mention, these are just my own thoughts and reflections on this subject...I'm no way an expert (as this blog's intro states!). This is just an area that fascinates me, that I've experienced personally though am still a novice in fully comprehending and practicing.

I was reflecting the other day that our consciousness is like an onion with different layers. As we peel back the layers less of the onion remains but what does become even more real are the intangible qualities-it's scent and sometimes our physiological responses to it (like involuntary tears!). The more we enter into different levels of consciousness, peeling back the more superficial layers, peeling away our attachments, the ramblings of our mind, the more we start to get to the core of things. I would suggest, God is at our core.

When we let go of ourselves, or who we think are ourselves, and still our mind so that we are an observor to our illusions, to our mind's wanderings, we start to see things more clearly and we start to open our hearts up to God's reality more and more as we become less and less cluttered and hindered by the insufficient things we sometimes cling to for security in our ever-shifting worlds. The fact is, life is impermanent and sometimes it can be downright full of despair and suffering, filled with uncertainty, etc. That is why it is much to our benefit as well as salvation that we cling to the only sure rock there is in which to steady our uneven gait through this life...and that is God. And I believe there is much benefit in centering ourselves and our mind on God and in His presence. It provides us with peace, with direction and with a sense of compassion that we most undoubtedly will extend to others.

On this topic John of the cross wrote:

A soul makes room for God by wiping away all the smudges and smears of attachment. By uniting its will perfectly to God's; for to love is to labor to divest and deprive oneself for God of all that is not God. When this is done the soul will be illumined by and transformed in God.

There are many great writers who speak a lot more eloquently and with more experience than I on this subject. I will be sure to quote passages from them over time on this blog so that maybe we can learn together some of the wisdom and insight God has revealed to them. We all have much to learn from one another, but ultimately God is our infallible source of truth and all His truth is in His Word, so we will explore what His Word has to say about all of this as well.

What are your thoughts? Your experiences, if any on contemplative prayer and Christian meditation?

~many blessings

The Greatest Fear: A Quote by Thomas Merton

The Greatest Fear: A Quote by Thomas Merton

The Greatest fear of all, of being ungrateful to God and betraying him. For it is comparatively little to sin without having confessed God-or known him, that is, in blindness and ignorance and confusion. But to confess Christ and then sin and so betray Christ by ingratitude (knowing His love and great mercy) and then to justify yourself and your sin, what a terrible damnation! That is worse than Pilate's sin, or the horror of the executioner who drove the nails in, orof the soldiers who peirced Him with the spear-it is the betrayal of Judas.

~ Thomas Merton, Run to the Mountain

Matthew 24: 12-13 (ESV)
¹²And because lawlessness will be increased,^(A) the love of many will grow cold.13 But he who endures to the end will be saved.

" He loves thee too little who loves anything together with thee, which he loves not for thy sake." ~ St. Augustine


 “The worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love”. ~ Henry Scougal


Lord,
May our love for you never grow cold. May the temptations and distractions of the world never keep us from seeking you, from making you the most precious treasure of our lives that we hold dear above everything else. May you illuminate your truths to us and give us direction and clarity as we pursue your ways. Thank you for your free gift of mercy, undeserved, that, like showers, fall upon the hearts of sinners turned towards your love, refreshing us, giving us strength and resolve to carry out your will. Forgive us when we fall short, as oftentimes we do. May the eyes of our hearts always be turned to you and may the ears of our hearts always be receptive to hearing the whispers of your precious Spirit.
In Jesus' holy name, Amen.

God and Nature

I wrote these thoughts while spending some time at my favorite quiet place, by the river not far from our house. They contain some reflections on God's greatness and put into perspective the beauty and wonder of nature:

Tufts of grass sprout up amidst a bed of rocks lining the river's curves. Birds swoop and dive high above among the treetops, sounding their calls, bidding adieu to another fine day. Atop my makeshift perch of impressive quartz, I look at the vast array of stones surrounding me. If it were a snapshot I would title it "Impermanence", for every rock I see has a continually evolving story that no one but God will ever know.

Sometimes when I look at a particular rock, in its misshapen and irregular shape, bearing deep grooves, sporting gashes along its contour where elements have taken off whole pieces, I wonder where along the river, or perhaps buried inside some deep glacier, did it have its beginning. Such a thought is almost hard to comprehend-the genesis of a stone. Even with a tree, one could come to wonder where it got its beginning. Of course in the seed from which it sprung from, but what about the tree that seed came from? And the tree before that? Have you ever wondered what the very first tree looked like? What kind it might have been? Could such a thing ever be figured out, with total certainty?

Even the Bible, which serves as no science text book but regardless does give an account of the beginning, does not get very specific. It tends to speak more in general terms, giving account of large groups at a time in terms of their conception. This is naturally because the Bible's message is not one of biology but one of salvation.

I must admit and humble myself that there are some things that mankind will never truly know for sure. We can speculate, hypothesize, and have fun dreaming up the possibilities, but some answers seem to belong to God and God alone.

What exactly does that mean? What could one get from that truth? The truth of an all-knowing diety that has existed before time and exists outside of time wholly independent from our existence? I know to me, it points towards the vastness of God, to His greatness, to His holiness and His soveriegnty over all things. It also is a very humbling thought.






As I return my thoughts back to the rocks surrounding me and look at their living scars I'm reminded of the merciless nature of the natural world. As beautiful as it is, it has little if no compassion on the weak, no pity for the weary. If you can't keep up out here you are welcomed quite readily into the bosom of nature's grave where quite assuredly other creatures will make good use of you. I am reminded that as much as I take refreshment and find awe in its presence, it is really the glory of God manifested that my heart is drawn to. God's love is the direct antithesis of nature's brutality. Where the natural world tramples on the weak, the Lord lifts the weak up. Where the weary found in nature could easily be overcome and drowned by the merciless waves of the sea, the weary who trust in God have only to ask and receive His water, living water, that brings life, not death, and light to the soul.

In relation to nature and God Thomas Merton wrote this:

"When we see things as they are in God (or as we think they are in God) in relation to the goodness and love of their creator, then the things are filled with more beauty and mores significance than would be possible if we just looked at the thing for its own sake....The tree offers us shade, which is pleasant, and so reminds us of God's mercy and love which is pleasant and full of solace, and the tree appears to be the instrument of God's mercy and love for the just and the unjust alike.

...The tree is a living thing, nourished as we are by the Lord God, and holding up its leaves and branches loving the air and the light that move around and among it, and nourished by the sun and the rain and the rich ground: and so, loving the tree, not for itself, we are able to achieve the imaginative self-identification with it poets and Saints both seek after and we love it in something of the same kind of way as Saint Francis loved and understood the birds and living creatures.

The soul cannot enjoy things, it can only enjoy itself or the love of God. It cannot enjoy trees: but God and his mercy and love are everywhere in the air, in the trees, in our hearts. So we can be struck with love and sympathy and understanding for the Godliness that is in all the things around us, that proclaim the immense and unfailing love of their creator."

                                        ~ Thomas Merton, Run to the Mountain, p. 26-27

I think Merton, in this passage, gives much for one to reflect on when spending time in nature.
Anyways, I don't want to make this too long, but if any of you have any thoughts towards this topic I'd love your feedback :)

~Many blessings