What would it be like to really have a community that loved and accepted everyone? What would it be like to find a place that would allow God to be God? A place where you are given the space to have your life, your spiritual life, within the trust of you and God. A place where you are accepted like that by everyone, and you accept everyone you encounter in this community; yeilding to them, showing mercy, and only doing good deeds. What would that be like? This is my passion: to truly bring this kind of community to people. A place where people can just be people and say and feel as they need and find love. My passion is to fulfill things scripture write about like this:
For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.
But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.
James 3:16-18 (NLT)
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.
Real wisdom, God's wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.
James 3:16-18 (The Message)
If we name the name of Christ -"I am a follower of Christ" - then we are called to carry a messege that is like none other in the world. Love. Love. Love. We are not to create communities full of people attempting to out do each other, talk to only those that we think are deserving, or make people do what we think they should do. When we do this scripture states that we will actually create a place of disorder and evil of "every" kind!
However, if we can just love everyone who enters that community, we will find a place that is healthy, robust, lives right, and brings God to the presence of others. Peace will be our constant companion. If we do the hard work of loving - showing no favoritism, no treating people differntly one day than another, and treating everyone with diginity and honor - we will find a community of love, peace, joy - a robust community full of the love, the power, the knowledge, of Christ! I hope you will have the same vision and join me, as well as others, just loving everyone.
Namaste'