Spirit Gives Birth To Spirit

The spark that lights your eyes So blue and sharp and bright From deep within your little soul It speaks of daddy's love But I cringe at the violence That will be done to your heart. When your friend shuns you, Or the careless boy makes fun. The innocent eyes Will grow older And time will whither the vine But wisdom will be born. I will do my best to guide you To cheer you from the bleachers To hold you when you're hurting And help you find your gifts. But now you are just walking Exploring the world in wonderment Sinking deep into my arms You look to me for comfort. You come to me, across the room, To fell secure and safe To drop the fear and settle in Without the distance between us How I wish it should always be But I know you must too soon  Grow strong and wise and passionate too, And grow away from me.

     Spiritual writing, for me, is a process of spiritual formation. I present myself a little dirtier than I think I am. But really what gets communicated is my best self. It is a place I would like to be. I think it was Thomas Merton that said that people who write spiritually are not yet the people they are in their writing. But, he said, let them write! He knew, as I believe, that this is a path for growth. And as I write these things I will grow into them. It is just how I am wired. My wife, and other people who are close to me sometimes get frustrated with me because  I fall so short of the person behind the pen. But as I told my wife the other day, the story is not yet over.       In some ways, I think I am the opposite of what my readers might expect. People close to me know that I can be moody and irritable, as a lot of creative people are. People closer than that know I struggle deeply with this. And people even closer than that love me in spite of it. For all the thinking

                “When I wake up, I’m afraid that somebody else might take my place.” Listen to this song.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrWwtU7iyl0    I think it’s the soundtrack going on deep inside the subconscious of the people we interact with every day.  We are all fallen human beings.  If it doesn’t move you to tears knowing this is what is going on underneath in the people you interact with, you are not human. We carry the scars of our childhood throughout our whole lives.  We want to know we matter to someone.  We want to know someone else in this world will get outside themselves for a minute and listen to our soundtrack. When you are a preacher, and you are preaching to the congregation, or a spiritual writer, and you are writing to your audience, I think this is the soundtrack of the subconscious in the people listening to you or reading the tripe you write.  It’s the song of the deep need in every human being to know they matter to someone else.  When I am out at the ga

An Excerpt From my Book: "Zen Christianity:" Jesus encouraged us to practice radical, unconditional forgiveness. It is the very type of forgiveness that has proven to have the most health and relational benefits for ourselves and others. Jesus says in his famous Sermon on the Mount, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’   But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.” ( Matt 5:38-41, NIV) He was presenting a radical forgiveness that was a way of life.  “If someone asks you to go one mile,” as the oppressive Roman soldiers often gave the Jews their packs and had them carry them, “go two miles.” He showed us an example of radical

     I think the semantics of that phrase is a nudge from God. Jesus is coming again on Tuesday. And Monday. And today. There is a collection of Jesus' parables in Matthew 25 about the Kingdom of God and when it will come.  Jesus relates this parable:  “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. “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. 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, 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.

 “’…All these commandments I have kept,’ the young man said. ‘What do I still lack?’ Jesus answered, ‘ If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me. ’ When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.” I am sitting in Starbucks on Black Friday at 5:30 am.  There are cars frantically racing about outside on destinations to shopping malls and big box stores that promise deals for Christmas shopping. I don’t have the money to do likewise. That our society makes a holiday out of consumption is indicative of the consumption that drives our capitalist economy. But yesterday I spent the day in thankfulness with my family at Thanksgiving dinner.  We spent time with others whom we love, thankful for their comfort, and I thought upon all the gifts God had given us.  One blessing from earlier this year is this laptop.  I received a bonus at work from my new organization.  It is

              How to people come to know God?  It is different for everybody to some extent, but there are commonalities to most Christians' walk.  Usually, people in the United States were introduced to some sort of contact with a religious institution when they were children.  It may have been through and Aunt or Uncle, maybe a grandparent, or their parents may have taken them to church on Christmas and Easter.  Many had parents that attended church regularly and they grew up among their peers in Sunday School.  I think the majority of kids then fall away from these fledgling beliefs in their teenage years.  This is very common and it is often an outgrowth of establishing their independence from their parents and family.  But then something happens.  God begins to woo them back. Through senses, interactions with others, a spiritual book, perhaps even some tentative reading of scripture, God makes them aware of himself.  And then they inevitably go through some trial.  Trials lik

              Just who was Jesus?  That is a very complicated question. To most Christians, he is the divine son of God.  But this is based on a certain reading of scripture that is not necessarily shared by all. Exactly what does it mean?  This is not common to all, and is in fact different for every Christian. Who did his disciples say he was?  Jesus asked this of his disciples in Luke 9:18 – 9:22. “Once when Jesus was praying by himself, and his disciples were nearby, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” They answered, “John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others that one of the prophets of long ago has risen.” Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “The Christ of God.” But he forcefully commanded them not to tell this to anyone, saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, and be killed, and on the third day be raised" (Luke 9). The “Christ of God” tr

I woke up at 9:00 this morning, threw some clothes on and headed out the door.  I was meeting with the a ministry leader at 9:20 that morning because I had expressed an interest in joining their care ministry at my new church. Just before I left, I sent him a letter that I had written that week for a young man who I had visited in the adolescent psych unit at the hospital.  I thought it would give the ministry leader some insight into my interactions with my care receivers, as I had been a Stephen Minister for 5 years and a lay chaplain at my previous church. When I got there, I sat down with the ministry leader.  We got to talking and I asked him what he did for work previously.  He said he was a pharmacist.  Then he said something that perked my ears: He said his first rotation was for a Psychiatric Hospital in Ohio.  He said there was razor wire around the high wall surrounding it and double locked doors on every ward.  I asked him if it was for people with mental issues that had co

Much has been written and sung about love.   From Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to Johnny Cash and Bob Dillan.  To modern poets, writers and musicians. But what about Platonic love?  What about love of neighbor.  Well, pretty much the entire New Testament, and many parts of the Old Testament are about this kind of love.  But it is summed up best in Jesus’ teachings and actions.  In Luke 6, Jesus sums up what this kind of love looks like, “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.  To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to

                I attended the new membership class at our new church today.  It is a Methodist church that hired my wife to lead the worship team about 6 months ago. We went around the room for the first half of the class and people talked about their faith walk and how they had come to attend this church. Many people expressed that they felt welcome and how the members of this church were so warm and friendly to them. The new pastor touched on some of the core beliefs in the church.  Most important of these is to walk out Jesus’ love to the world in practical ways.  She mentioned the major Christian creeds and they are not required. I was especially relieved because I have some core issues with the Nicene and Apostolic Creeds which many churches require you to agree with, publicly, in order to become a member.  After the class I went up to talk with the new pastor. I started out, “I’ll join, if you take me. I have some pretty unorthodox beliefs.”  She smiled and spoke with me for

This is one of my favorite Christian songs.  It is on my baby daughter's daddy-daughter mix. I've heard a thousand stories of what they think you're like But I've heard the tender whispers of love in the dead of night And you tell me that you're pleased And that I'm never alone You're a good good father It's who you are, it's who you are, it's who you are And I'm loved by you It's who I am, it's who I am, it's who I am I've seen many searching for answers far and wide But I know we're all searching For answers only you provide 'Cause you know just what we need Before we say a word You're a good good father It's who you are, it's who you are, it's who you are And I'm loved by you It's who I am, it's who I am, it's who I am Because you are perfect in all of your ways You are perfect in all of your ways You are perfect in all of your ways to us You are perfect in all o

Thank you, God For the trees and grass The beauty of nature As a reminder of you Thank you, God For the stars and galaxies Swirling in the night That they inspire our reach Thank you, God For this life In all its goodness And all its sorrow Your whisper is heard Quiet on the breeze In the depths of our souls “Come be with me.” And for all the pain Of this depression It is a gift That grows my heart Love comes softly Like a butterfly on the wind And alights on our souls - A gift without bounds And so, from the bottom of my soul I reach up towards the sky And cast my grateful eyes To the glory of your heaven.

     I want to address what I believe is a terrible bit of theology.  It is the tried and true belief that is still so present in Christian circles: the sacrificial Atonement of Jesus Christ.  It says that to appease God's wrath against man, Jesus had to suffer and die on the cross.  You still hear it in so many songs we sing on Sunday mornings about the blood (Jesus's blood) covering our sins.  And so we are made clean - "white as snow" so the songs go.  But many pastors worth their salt, in my opinion, have distanced themselves from this theology.  Of the four pastors in my life, I know three don't hold this view.  The fourth I have simply not gotten to know yet.      The idea of the sacrificial atonement came out of the old Jewish system of sin and sacrifice.  Many, perhaps the majority, of Christians believe that Jesus was a sacrifice like the flawless lambs that were offered for a sin offering in the Jewish religion of his day.  In the early church a link