Spirit Gives Birth To Spirit

    What is the church?  I can tell you what it has been for me.  I attended a non-denominational Vineyard church for about 15 years.  Now I attend a First United Methodist church.  I've found these churches to be very accepting places where I could experience community.  Community is in short supply in our society these days.  A good church is a place where you become known and loved - really loved despite all your flaws and failures. But it is more than that.  It is the body of Jesus on Earth.  As such, it is made up of its members, each with their own unique calling.  The bible paints the picture like this. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12, " Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body,   so it is with Christ.   For we were all baptized   by  one Spirit   so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. ...

    There is an interpretation of scripture I want to address.  There is a passage in Matthew 5 that says "you are the light of the world."  Many believe, I think reading this incorrectly, that only  the church is the light of the world.  And many jump to the conclusion that others outside the church are therefore in darkness.  The darkness part I think actually comes from taking an incomplete snippet from something Jesus says, "[many will come from far and wide] to recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of Heaven and while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out in the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."  See the irony?  The sons of the Kingdom who don't follow God's will and take on his ways will be thrown out in the darkness.  In Jesus's parable, i t is the insiders, NOT THE OUTSIDERS, who will be thrown out into darkness. The outsiders, the bible says will storm the gates of the...

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...

                “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 nee...

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 y...