In Yoke

"Thoughts of themselves have no substance; let them arise and pass away unheeded.Thoughts will not take form of themselves, unless they are grasped by the attention; if they are ignored, there will be no appearing and no disappearing." -Ashvaghosha Eswaran uses an analogy of actors on a stage to explain how our thoughts can be managed using the direction of our attention: "Life is a kind of play in which we are called upon to play our part with skill. But in meditation we are sometimes more like the audience, while our thoughts are the actors. If we could go backstage, we could see all the actor-thoughts getting made up. Anger is there putting on his long fangs. Fear is rattling his chains. Jealousy is admiring herself in the mirror and smearing on green mascara. Now, these thought-actors are like actors and actresses everywhere: they thrive on a responsive audience. When Jealousy comes out on stage and we sit forward on our seats, she really puts on a show. But...

One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach. One can collect only a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few. -Anne Morrow Lindbergh If you are determined to stick to what is really important in life, then from day to day you will see that the unimportant pastimes, the distractions that lead you away from your purpose, will gradually weaken their hold. On the list of priorities, first and foremost is your daily prayer time[quiet time, silence, practice of presence,meditation]. This focus has the capability to reveal your True Self, the Sacred Essence within, the Holy Spirit who dwells in your heart*. The Spirit will clear your eyes and bring the detachment and discrimination that one needs in order to make wise choices. So right at the top of your list should be the resolution to Practice the Presence of Christ, aka Christian Meditation, and not to let anything come in the way. Not even the greatest of worldly achievements will satisfy us completely. Nothing fin...

My experience of God is too big for one religion. My experience of people is too broad for one tribe. I love my roots, but refuse to be a religious bonsai. My love of God and my commitment to godliness fuel a desire to learn from, and work and pray with peoples of different faiths and cultures. Interspirituality is the world music of religion; borrowing, fusing, blending and bouncing rhythms and riffs off one another not to create a homogenized spirituality, but to birth a radical new sound embedded in the ancient and timeless silence. This doesn't impact or deepen my life—it is my life. ---------------------------------------------------(Rabbi Rami Shapiro) ________________________________________________________________ This forward thinking, radical rabbi has it right. Oh, but could we as Baptist Christians find this truth and indelibly print it on our collective belief systems, eradicating all religious intolerance. Why must we be so defensive about the Lord Jesus? Can't ...

Manifest plainness, Embrace simplicity, Reduce selfishness, Have few desires. -Lao Tzu Detachment from likes and dislikes, habits and opinions, is not a sign of weakness. It is an enormously strong and positive quality. Nor does freedom from likes and dislikes mean that life is insipid for us, but rather that we are not driven compulsively by rigid ways of thinking. Even if we don't get what we want - or if we do get what we don't want - we can still function cheerfully and efficiently. Detachment from habits does not mean that we have no habits.Good habits can be very useful to cultivate in life. But we should be able to change our habits gracefully, or drop them altogether when necessary, especially if we learn that they are harmful to us or are not exactly endearing us to those around us. If we are used to a cup of coffee every morning with our breakfast and one morning we discover that we are out of coffee, we don't say, "I can't function without my coffee,...

I am struck by Bonhoeffer, always, whenever I read his insights. The following quote tends to underscore my feelings about true social justice. In a Christian community, everything depends upon whether each individual is an indispensable link in a chain. Only when even the smallest link is securely interlocked is the chain unbreakable. A community which allows unemployed members to exist within it will perish because of them. It will be well, therefore, if every member receives a definite task to perform for the community, that he may know in hours of doubt that he, too, is not useless and unusable. Every Christian community must realize that not only do the weak need the strong, but also that the strong cannot exist without the weak. The elimination of the weak is the death of the fellowship. Dietrich Bonhoeffer I was visiting with a young man who I hold in high esteem this morning. We were discussing the topic of social justice. What does that mean? I hadn't ever really ...

On 9/7/08, the Waco Tribune Herald posted a front page article regarding the selection of Gov. Sarah Palin as the GOP nomination for VP, and sought to draw a parallel with our culture's acceptance of women being qualified for service to their country, at the highest level, and the current growing phenomenon of women serving as senior pastors in seemingly conservative, evangelical protestant churches. Will this move affect the SBC's stance against women pastors? Terri Jo Ryan interviewed DorisAnne Cooper, pastor of Waco's Lake Shore Baptist Church to obtain her views on the matter. I thought DorisAnne did an admirable job in vetting the issues. (Although I would not classify Lake Shore as conservative, or evangelical. :)) Several things have emerged from this ongoing discussion that I feel strongly about. I will begin by posing them as questions --to more effectively frame the discussion: 1 . Is there truly a parallel between the qualifications between (A)secul...

I am not looking for enemies. I don't think any of us do that intentionally.  However, I was drawn to this prayer from the horrors of Dachau concentration camp in 1945, written by a Serbian dissident Orthodox Bishop,  Nicholai Velimirovic -  who defied the Nazis when they overran Yugoslavia in 1941--before they attacked Russia.  His perspective was undoubtedly sharpened by his encounters with the bloodthirsty Nazi tormentors at Dachau.  He was driven into the arms of the Spirit. Oh to become as attuned to the grace of our Lord, without the torments of enemies. I am refreshed by his deep perspective. Taken from “The Illumined Heart” by Frederica Mathewes-Green The Prayer of Bishop Nicholai Velimirovic of Serbia .   Written from Dachau prison in 1945. "Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them. Enemies have driven me into your embrace more than friends have. Friends have bound me to earth; enemies have loosed me from earth and demolished all...