Life-Light

What is Christmas time about for you? Is it about the buying of things, the giving of gifts because you just have to, and being busy? For me this is what Christmas is about:

Everything was created through him;

nothing—not one thing!—came into being without him.

What came into existence was Life,

and the Life was Light to live by.

The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;

the darkness couldn't put it out.

The Life-Light was the real thing:

Every person entering Life

he brings into Light.

He was in the world,

the world was there through him,

and yet the world didn't even notice.

He came to his own people,

but they didn't want him.

But whoever did want him,

who believed he was who he claimed

and would do what he said,

He made to be their true selves,

their child-of-God selves.

These are the God-begotten,

not blood-begotten,

not flesh-begotten,

not sex-begotten.

John 1: 3-5, 9-13

Christmas is the time that God re-entered the story of creation! He re-entered the story and made himself like one of us. Jesus became a person and made himself of no reputation and came to serve humanity. This is the story of Christmas for me. Jesus came to restore us to our true selves - children of God. He was not worried about being noticed by the world even though he had created it. He was not worried that people did not notice the creator right in their mist. However for those that did notice, life was given to them again - real, eternal, light filled, life! The reality of being a child of God was realized. We were "saved" from an empty, worried, frustrating life and given one that was about what real life is about - life, service to others, joy! This is the celebration of Christmas for me. God entered the story of humanity to restore it to a place of joy, hope, peace, and love. I hope we all do our part to bring that kingdom to reality each and everyday.

Namaste'

What Have We Become?

I have begin to wonder what we have become as a "Body of Christ?" Have we become what Jesus would want us to be? Have we become so attached to the worlds system of "power over" that we hvae forgotten that Jesus' system is one of "power under?" We have come to think that we must have power over things. We have come to think that we must make sure people "make a decision" for Christ right now. We have come to think that we are some how in control of what will happen now and for eternity. We have lost the power that comes from being a servant to all.

"You've observed how godless rulers throw their weight around, how quickly a little power goes to their heads. It's not going to be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for the many who are held hostage."

Matthew 20:24

How often do we really serve others? How often are willing to exchange our lives for the ones who are held hostage? We have let the world's power go to our heads. We have told ourselves that we can use the system of the world, of the physical, to overcome the sin and evil in this world. We have come to think that we can actually control others and their behaviors through developing a system that is the same as the worlds. We have forgotten that Jesus did not come in this way. Jesus came to love and to serve, never to be served or to change others by force. I love this:

“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.”

Rabindranath Tagore

Jesus came to save the world through his service. Jesus came to save the world through the act of sacrifice of the cross. It was in this act of complete humbleness, complete lack of ego, and a complete selflessness. This gave Christ the ultimate power - through love. Would it be so bad to love those who we think are "different" than us? Would it be so bad to let people struggle in our mist and struggle along with them? Would it be so bad to let people know that they are loved and invite them into a conversation about spirituality and God? Would we find joy in our service? Jesus did and it seems to have turned out just fine.

Namaste'

Light

We have only one purpose in this life, to love. This purpose can take many forms - pastor, counselor, doctor, administrative assistant, teacher, bank teller, cashier, etc. - but the purpose is still the same. This is where we misunderstand what Jesus means by kingdom. We seem to have become obsessed with some kind of power that comes from political or educational solutions as Christians. We have come to take on the form of the world and its form of power - "power over." Christians have come to think that we can convert enough people, change enough laws, and tell enough people that their behavior is wrong, we can have a kingdom on this earth. We forget what we have read and been taught:

This, in essence, is the message we heard from Christ and are passing on to you: God is light, pure light; there's not a trace of darkness in him.
If we claim that we experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we're obviously lying through our teeth—we're not living what we claim. But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God's Son, purges all our sin.

I John 1: 5-7

Anyone who claims to live in God's light and hates a brother or sister is still in the dark. It's the person who loves brother and sister who dwells in God's light and doesn't block the light from others. But whoever hates is still in the dark, stumbles around in the dark, doesn't know which end is up, blinded by the darkness.

I John 2: 9-11

"Love is our highest calling and the synonym for God." We have forgotten that the cross is the example of what it means to be a Christian. We are to be servants of all those around us - no matter who they are or what "sin" they seem to be in. It does not matter if it is a prostitute that would like to wash our feet with her hair, an adulterous that had just been caught, a tax collector who had stolen from his friends, or even a thief that was dying right next to us - we are called to love. This is the light of the community of people who follow the way of the Master they call Jesus. This is the life that Jesus taught us - a life of love. This is the light that we offer everyone who needs light in their life. All those people we want to change do not see light in our frustration to change them. These people can only see light when they are loved. Jesus' kingdom is one that brings the light of love to everyone we come in contact with. This is not about establishing a kingdom that makes people follow God, but one that allows people to choose to follow God because they have encountered love.

Love today. Be kind. Be light.

Namaste'

Your Glasses are on Backwards

I love this phrase. It comes out of the Big Book of AA. It tells of a story of someone who started to not like the meetings. They told of how they hated the stories that were told, the coffee that was made, the speakers that spoke, and the double lives of the people that were there. They write about how their recovery began to suffer until they were told something that impacted them beyond measure. "You have your glasses on backwards." They were told to turn their view of life and the meetings around. They told of how they were confronted about how easily they had gone from a focus on the positive to a focus on the negative. This change their recovery and they started moving forward again.
I know I just went through a time like this in my life. My glasses were on backwards. I was focusing on the negative, what I did not like, what was frustrating me. I needed to remember what is going beautifully, right, and wonderful. I forgot this:

So don't lose a minute in building on what you've been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can't see what's right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books.
So, friends, confirm God's invitation to you, his choice of you. Don't put it off; do it now. Do this, and you'll have your life on a firm footing, the streets paved and the way wide open into the eternal kingdom of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 1:5-11

This is having my/our glasses on the "right" way. We need to remember that we need to live our lives with all the qualities that are listed in this passage. When we do not we miss out on so much of the rewards of living. Just like the person in the Big Book story, we miss out on all of the rewards that are being offered everytime we wake up and live our life because we are focused on what we think should be different. We forget that God has an open, standing invitation to us - all the time - we are never seperated from God. We only are seperated in our mind and in what we focus and place our attention on. I know that when I focus on how I treat others, being kind, being passionately patient, living in wonder and awe, and loving all people and situations I come into contact with - my life is so full of God's goodness I do not remember anything about that "sinful" life.

Today remember that you have an open invitation to be with God in every moment. Remember that the more your focus on love, kindness, and patience in your interactions with others the more you reap the rewards that God and this life offers you right now. Your glasses are on backwards - turn them around!

Namaste'

Called

We are called to a life that is free. You are free to pursue your passions and desires. God has placed them inside of you for that reason - you have been called to act them out! The best way to act out your calling is to simply love others. If you can be kind and simply love others, your calling and the way to live it out, act it out, becomes clear.

It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows. For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?

Galatians 5:13-15

What you are called to, your passion and your desires, become truly evident when we follow the simple sentence that sums up God's word! However, if we are going to be angry, frustrated, focus on what makes us upset, and make decisions to annihilate and resent other people, our desire will be hidden from us! We find freedom in the service and loving of others. We find freedom in giving our lives away for the good of others. We find freedom in loving others just like we would like to be loved.

We find a prison in any attempt to control, hate, be angry, frustrated and push others out of our lives. We take a freedom and we make it null and void because we refuse to act on the law of God to love others. Our anger, our resentment, our unforgiveness, our worry keeps the desires and passion God has given us hidden from our view. We feel annihilated ourselves, disconnect, and depressed.

Simply love today. If you want to find your calling and you want to know what your desires and passions are that God has given you then just love others. See if clarity does not come upon your eyes and your mind. See if what God has for you becomes so clear that there is no way to resist the calling. Live this today (it is one of my favorite quotes):

“By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired."

Namaste'

Quiet Life

Live a quiet life. When you read this what comes to mind? What does this mean? I wonder how often we live a life that is quiet?

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

A quiet life is one that if lived without interfering with others. A life that is marked by patience, kindness, love, and humility. I think about it so much so that people may not even notice that we are around, or a part of the landscape. This is the way that we "win the respect" of people who do not know or understand God or a spiritual life. We quietly and with non-interference (there is a post on that here) serve others and allow God to work. This should be the presence we have in the world as "Christians." We serve and love others and they are attracted to Jesus as we lift him up by our service to our master by following His way.

Most of the time we are not this way, quiet. We spend our time attempting to convince, control, manage other people's lives. We become angry, upset, and frustrated because we have to change it all right now. We are not living a quiet life. It is a life that is loud, interfering, and frustrating. We win no respect from others, we lose it. We do not get to influence others, we lose all chance to do so. Christian actually comes to mean someone judgemental, unaccepting, unloving, and unkind. Is Jesus lifted up by living life out loud?

Today just try it on. Live a quiet life. Serve others. Win their respect. Humble yourself.

Namaste'

Desire

Do we hear the good news? Do we understand what the good news is? Do we understand what happens if we really hear, accept, and understand the good news? The good news is the message of the kingdom, the kingdom of God, but not the kingdom as we might think about it. The kingdom is knowing that we are loved, accepted, and cared for by the Creator. This includes that we been given dreams and desires that are from that Creator. God wants us to follow those dreams and desires, to make them real, to live beyond our wildest dreams.

At about that same time Jesus left the house and sat on the beach. In no time at all a crowd gathered along the shoreline, forcing him to get into a boat. Using the boat as a pulpit, he addressed his congregation, telling stories.
"What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road, and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn't put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled by the weeds. Some fell on good earth, and produced a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.

Matthew 13:1-8

So where does the seed, the Good News, of Jesus land with you? Does it fall on the road, the gravel, or in the weeds? Do your desires get eaten up, burned up, or choked out? What I mean, is do you have these dreams and desires that God has given you to live and these dreams and desires get killed by something? We all have a tendency to get caught up in what we think are the "right" things to do and this chokes out the dream. We get worried about being good fathers, mothers, providers, financial concerns, making sure things are safe for ourselves and familes, and that we can be sure we are doing well. This leads to a choking, burning, eating of the dreams that God has given us. We begin to do the same things everyday - wake up, eat, work, care the kids, watch television, think about doing it again the next day, sleep and get up and do it all again! Desire leaves us and we live our life in a mundane, worried, and bored state.

We need to let the Good News be planted in our lives to give us confidence. We need to be "good earth." If we are, we can believe that Jesus came to do what he said:

"I'll be explicit, then. I am the Gate for the sheep. All those others are up to no good—sheep stealers, every one of them. But the sheep didn't listen to them. I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.

John 10:6-10

So do we belive that we will be cared for? If we truly follow Jesus, if we truly hear the good news, and if we truly go through the gate, then we will have a life that is better than we could ever dream of! Do not let the desires and dreams of your heart, that God has scattered there, die! The kingdom of God is within you! (See post on Revolution) We bring the kingdom of God to earth, not an earthly kingdom as we would think, but a kingdom that brings joy, peace, love, and kindness to people. This only comes by not letting our desires die. Live your desires today. Do not get caught up in the mundane of the world. Give your dreams and your desires some water. Weed those dreams and protect them from the sun. Let them flurish and bring the good news to everyone. Live!

Namaste'

Wisdom

We all work so hard for wisdom. Wisdom can be defined as the ability to discern or judge what is true, right, or lasting, it is insight. Wisdom comes through being humble. Wisdom comes through not acting like we know the answers to everything. Wisdom is making ourselves the humble servant of our Master.

Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here's what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It's the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts. Mean-spirited ambition isn't wisdom. Boasting that you are wise isn't wisdom. Twisting the truth to make yourselves sound wise isn't wisdom. It's the furthest thing from wisdom—it's animal cunning, devilish conniving. Whenever you're trying to look better than others or get the better of others, things fall apart and everyone ends up at the others' throats.

James 3:13-14

Wisdom is actually the act of humbling ourselves and not being right, but being kind. Wisdom is knowing that living life has nothing to do with what you say, but the way that you live and act. To push our way to the top, to make others think we know more than we do, and to boast about what we do know is not wisdom. Think about the way that Jesus lived and taught us to live. He was humble always giving way to the people around him, never pushing himself on anyone. Jesus lived a life that was an example for us to follow in the way of wisdom. Even at the moment that he could have proved who is was - he hung on the cross and said "forgive them for they do not know what they are doing." What wisdom!

Namaste'

Revolution

What would happen if we all lived as a "mini Jesus?" Would there be a revolution? What would happen if we stop worrying about the things that pharisees, essenes, and zealots do? What would happen if we actually left those tribes and become a whole new tribe that Jesus began? I know we think that we are, but really are we? (If you are confused you need to go back and read the last four (4) post.) We all have elements of these tribal, spiritual sects living in our way of thinking, feelings, behaving.

What if we could become a new kind of Christian? What if we really accepted that Jesus was our Master and we actually lived in the way that He was teaching and is teaching? What would happen if we really did have a revolutionary way of living? Would there, could there be a revolution of life? Could God's kingdom happen right here and right now?

Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you."

Luke 17:20-21 (NIV)

Jesus, grilled by the Pharisees on when the kingdom of God would come, answered, "The kingdom of God doesn't come by counting the days on the calendar. Nor when someone says, 'Look here!' or, 'There it is!' And why? Because God's kingdom is already among you."

Luke 17:20-21 (The Message)

You see the kingdom of God does not come because we overthrow the kingdoms of earth by force, or make sure we that everyone is holy enough, or because we seperate ourselves from this world and live in our own little commune and wait for the kingdom to come one day. No, the kingdom of God is already living in every one of us who claim that we are Christ followers. We hold the kingdom, through the help of the Holy Spirit, to live the way of Jesus. The follow our Master's teaching and bring love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23) into the world that is in desperate need of them. This does not come by force, but by loving, caring, kind, compassionate action with everyone we come into contact with.

Oh how the world would change if we could lay down being right for the cause of being kind. How the world would change if we truly treat Jesus as Master and we do what the Master says each and everyday in every interaction. Oh how we could usher in the kingdom of God with a revolution of love, of the One True God!

Namaste'

Zealots

The Zealots were a Jewish political movement in the 1st century which sought to incite the people to rebel against the Roman Empire and expel it from the country by force of arms. The Zealots continued to oppose the Romans due to Rome's intolerance of their culture and on the grounds that Israel belonged only to a Jewish king descended from King David. They believed that there should be some type of hostile takover of the goverment to make sure that their religion was supreme. The Zealots objected to Roman rule and sought violently to eradicate it; Zealots engaged in violence. They raided Jewish habitations and killed Jews they considered collaborators, while also urging Jews to fight Romans and other Jews for the cause.
I wonder if this sounds like any of the "Christian" sects today? How many people want to overthrow the govermental rule that they see as too liberal, unchristian, and/or ungodly? How many fights and discussion has there been because we need to restore this nation back to being a Christian nation? What was Jesus' reaction to the Zealots? Did he join them in this attempt to overthrow the goverment? The Zealots where expecting the Messiah to be a king, a person who would come back and overthrow the unholy reign of the Romans and re-establish the rule of the Jews. Jesus did not do that. Actually he taught the opposite:

"You're familiar with the old written law, 'Love your friend,' and its unwritten companion, 'Hate your enemy.' I'm challenging that. I'm telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.

Matthew 5:43-47

And Paul (a one time pharisee) wrote and taught this:

Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he's thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don't let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.

Romans 12:20-21

So any Zealot in me? If I was really going to follow the way of Jesus, what it really mean to be a Christian? How do I really over come the world? What is the real power that I hold? I believe that the real power that Jesus holds and held was the tremendous power of good, kindness, and peace. It was a revolution, but not the kind the Zealots where looking for. This is the real power we have today as followers of Christ, Christians. To bring goodness, kindness, grace - salt and light - into this world of evil. This is a revolution that will overcome anything evil. It is not to join the evil in acts of violence, but to overcome it with acts of love.

Today overcome all the challanges you may face with acts of love, kindness, and compassion. Become aware of the awesome, tremendous power you have as you live as Christ.

Namaste'

Pharisee

Pharisees believed that all Jews had to observe the purity laws. They held to a strict code of the laws and insisted on purity because they believe that the evil of the world they were living in was holding back the coming of the Messiah. The Pharisees were considered the most expert and accurate expositors of Jewish law. Fundamentally, the Pharisees continued a form of Judaism that extended beyond the Temple, applying Jewish law to mundane activities in order to sanctify the every-day world.
At some level they believed that if they could somehow sanctify the everyday world, all the evil people and things, the messiah would come quickly and rescue them from the Roman rule. When Jesus shows up and starts breaking all their rules, of course there is no way that Jesus could be the Holy King that they were looking for. Jesus was more concerned about people and their hearts, not the sanctification of their behavior. Jesus often had the recorded "run ins" with the pharisees.

One Sabbath, Jesus was strolling with his disciples through a field of ripe grain. Hungry, the disciples were pulling off the heads of grain and munching on them. Some Pharisees reported them to Jesus: "Your disciples are breaking the Sabbath rules!"
Jesus said, "Really? Didn't you ever read what David and his companions did when they were hungry, how they entered the sanctuary and ate fresh bread off the altar, bread that no one but priests were allowed to eat? And didn't you ever read in God's Law that priests carrying out their Temple duties break Sabbath rules all the time and it's not held against them?
"There is far more at stake here than religion. If you had any idea what this Scripture meant—'I prefer a flexible heart to an inflexible ritual'—you wouldn't be nitpicking like this. The Son of Man is no lackey to the Sabbath; he's in charge."
When Jesus left the field, he entered their meeting place. There was a man there with a crippled hand. They said to Jesus, "Is it legal to heal on the Sabbath?" They were baiting him.
He replied, "Is there a person here who, finding one of your lambs fallen into a ravine, wouldn't, even though it was a Sabbath, pull it out? Surely kindness to people is as legal as kindness to animals!" Then he said to the man, "Hold out your hand." He held it out and it was healed. The Pharisees walked out furious, sputtering about how they were going to ruin Jesus.

Matthew 12:1-14

So I have to ask myself, "Am I a pharisee in some way?" Are there times that we get so caught up in the "rules of religion" that we forget about matters of the heart? We forget that meeting someone else's need is more important that being worried about if they are following the right rules, or participating in the right behavior as we see it. Do we, like pharisees, worry more about being right than we do about being kind? Jesus did not join the pharisees in their quest to make everything holy by the rules of religion. I wonder how individuals, groups, and churches that claim to be followers of Christ do much the same as the pharisees and leave people in their lives with all their needs exposed to fend for themselves until they can get it "right." Really I wonder how often this happens?

I am sure that people with needs that we can tolerate we help. I am also sure that people with needs that we think go against all the rules we shun and tell them they are not welcomed until they change. I know we never use these words but our actions speak it loud and clear to those looking to be fed when they are hungry.

Today challange yourself to see how parts of your thinking, your actions, your beliefs would be like a pharisee. Think about how Jesus would react and respond to that behavior or thought that you have. Be kind today rather than right.

Namaste'