YAHWEH
looks down from heaven, He sees the whole human race; From where He sits He
watches all who live on the earth, He who molds every heart and takes note of
all that men do. Psalm 33:13-14
For He Himself is our peace, who has made us
both one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing
the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that He might create in Himself
one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and
might reconcile us to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing
the hostility. Ephesians 2:14-18
It’s time for the world to
see a Church who can keep her love on. It’s time for the sons and daughters of
God to mature into a company of powerful people who know how to walk in
freedom, practice intimacy and vulnerability, clean up our messes, and invite
people around us to become powerful, free lovers. It’s time for those who bear
the Name of Jesus to become famous for carrying His huge heart—that absolutely
fearless heart of love that pursues connection with broken sinners. This is how
the world will know we know Him. Danny Silk. Keep
Your Love On.
Why is it so difficult to be
still and quiet and let God speak to me about the meaning of my life? Is it
because I don’t trust God? Is t because I don’t know Go? Is it because I wonder
if God really is there for me? Is it because I a afraid of God? Is it because
everything else is more real for me than God? Is it because, deep down, I do
not believe that God cares what happens at the corner of (Broadway and Country
Club)?
Still there is a voice –
right there, in (almost) downtown (Tucson), “Come to me, you who labor and are
overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from Me, for
I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your soul. Yes, my
yoke is easy and my burden light.”
Can I trust that voice and
follow it? It is not a very loud voice, and often it is drowned out by the
clamor of the inner city. Still, when I listen attentively, I will hear that
voice again and again and come to recognize it as the voice speaking to the
deepest place of my heart. Henri Nouwen, Here and
Now
Alternative
consciousness is largely letting go of my mind's need to solve problems, to fix
people, to fix myself, to rearrange the moment because it is not to my liking.
When that mind goes, another, non-dualistic mind is already there waiting. We
realize it is actually our natural way of seeing. It's the way we thought as
children before we started judging and analyzing and distinguishing things one
from another. As Helen Luke says, "The coming to consciousness is not a
discovery of some new thing; it is a long and painful return to that which has
always been." Richard Rohr (sent by Brandon Coverdale)
So I woke up this morning in one of my two
favorite beds in the world, the tree house fort in Norwich, Vermont. The other
being in the House Beautiful in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.
And though it might be a little difficult to
believe for those who could not understand my boarding yet another plane and
heading in the opposite direction with barely time to run a load of laundry and
pay a few water and gas bills, it was a lovely series of flights to the green
and rather damp northeast.
I read and reread Danny Silk’s Put Your Love On. And my nifty iVersion
lets me underline in seven different colors and add any number of notes and
excerpts and cut and pastes. But mostly I want to carve its truths into my
heart, seeds from which will spring fruitfulness. Of what it means to be a
powerful person. Resting in His joyous freedom and living in His love. Like
Him, relentlessly pursuing reconciliation with outstretched arms.
And it is very clear that any place in my
thoughts for accusations and judgments and condemnation forms a nice sturdy foothold
for the Evil One, from which he can fire his darts, his lies from the pit of
hell. He is The Accuser. He is the hissing Whisperer. He knows not mercy nor
grace nor forgiveness of trespasses as we have been forgiven our trespasses.
And this foothold leads to double-mindedness,
tossing like a storm-driven sea, smashing against those other beloveds of our
Father.
And I know that those who love me have seen the
storm and broken flotsam and jetsom lying about the beach. And yearned for His
stillness for me, His beloved.
Because singlemindness leads to what Richard
Rohr describes as having simple
clear eyes, common-sense faith, a combination of humility and quiet confidence,
and a loving energy that makes whatever you say quite compelling. It also
allows you to deal with complex issues with this same simplicity and
forthrightness.
And yesterday Nicole sent me a picture.
And
she sent it to remind me that He is gentle and humble in heart as He leads me
into rest. As I abandon the hefty chains of my own fashioning, and rather
shoulder His yoke and learn from Him.
For He himself is our peace.
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