In Yoke

The heart benevolent and kind The most resembles God.                            – Robert Burns Our college ministry at Calvary from 1999-2008 functioned with this motto and carried on in this way(one relationship at a time), hoping to form meaningful relationships  with college students, just trying to keep our focus on one at a time…looking for the spark of Christ within the heart of each individual. As we begin a new chapter in our college ministry, this heart desire and focus is the motto once more. This underscores a basic fact of community life…and that is this: It is through Christ centered personal relationships that we learn to function beautifully in our walk of life throughout its ups and downs. We all need the little human contacts of life, and we all need intimate personal relationships with family or friends. Many peop...

“Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you.”                                                                                                -The Gospel According to Saint Matthew This is love at its most magnificent. In order to love like this, we cannot be attached to ourselves. It is because we think so much about ourselves that we strike back, show resentment, speak harshly, move away. I have witnessed this phenomenon up close in the past couple of years. I am unable to understand m...

“No prolonged infancies among us, please. We'll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are an easy mark for impostors. God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.”-Ephesians 4:14-16-The Message The bottom line—our lives are to continue to more and more reflect the character of Christ—ever increasing to full maturity. The fruits of the Spirit will continue to grow in abundance in the rich soil of the Body of Christ, so we must work through all adversity and resistance against trying to go it alone…and seek first His Kingdom—within the church, and learn to live in love. Help me, Holy Spirit, to be faithful to you still, small voice and your call…

The wine of life is oozing drop by drop, The leaves of life are falling one by one.   – Omar Khayyam Easwaran muses: Like leaves, we come into this life, are here for a few days, and then are gone. Nobody remembers us, and nobody misses us. As long as we believe that we are separate, we inevitably have to die. Our immortality is in the whole, which never dies. In living just for personal profit and pleasure, no matter under what philosophical name we may call it, our real personality withers away. It cannot be otherwise. When you become aware that you are not a leaf but the tree , something amazing happens in your life: you are able to act spontaneously, almost effortlessly, for the good of all. This is the proof of your awareness that you are the tree: everywhere it will motivate you, everywhere you will see what contribution you can make. You won’t have to deliberate the pros and cons. You won’t need a computer to provide you with a plan of action. You will kn...

I have heard stories of men and women who were imprisoned in solitary confinement, without anything but their own hearts and their own memories to examine. These same folks tell of how whole passages of scripture, complete stories of Jesus and of the Apostles, of prophets, of Psalms, have come clear to them, untrammeled, descriptive, like medicine to their lonely, tortured soul. These “balms of Gilead” are also available to us-like myself, who have been instructed in the ways of the Lord throughout our lives…even when being spared imprisonment. I know His word has come to me many times in my lowest moments, and in my humdrum day to day existence, to enlighten, to encourage, to clarify, to inspire, to energize. Paul the apostle states- Christ dwells in our hearts through faith(Ephesians 3:17), and all treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden and can be found in Christ. It stands to reason then, that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge of God can be found—in the hear...

"The church is a miracle, conceived of the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus was—both unexpected, marginalized, and scandalous to outside observers. "                                                                  ( Eugene Peterson) Disillusionment is the majority opinion in this country, in regards to church. More folks are disillusioned about church than those who are excited about God's Spirit moving within his church. It is easier to judge and abandon church and the imperfect folks within the church than it is to forgive, accept, and love the church, and its people—as Christ did, and does to this day. That disillusioned, hurt and divisive response to t...

“The Lord’s Prayer” -as taught by Yeshua in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke- is to be taken not simply(or even primarily) as a spoken prayer, but as method of praying—and living—that is – as a set of underlying, foundational attitudes toward: God-The Source of Life—I AM, The Father; our neighbor(and our church, I might add); and all aspects of our lives, and that these life attitudes are to be practiced —just like a figure skater, or archer practices his or her art or craft…practiced in all circumstances--in each and every moment of our lives.” **adapted from Cynthia Bourgeault, “Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening”, 2004.