In Yoke

Father Rohr--he makes a very good point.  Jesus is: Fully Human, Fully Divine Francis emphasized an imitation and love of the humanity of Jesus, and not just the proving or worshiping of his divinity. Even Christian art changed after Francis; take a look at paintings before and after Francis' life (1182-1226) or Medieval Art from the 5th century through the 15th century. Francis fell in love with the humanity and humility of Jesus, which made Jesus imitable. But in most of Christian history we have emphasized the divinity, omnipotence, omniscience, and "almightiness" of Jesus, which makes actually following him--or loving him--seem unrealistic. We are on two utterly different planes. A God who is "totally other" alienates totally.   I hope this doesn't upset some of my Christian friends, but an awful lot of Christians are not really Christian. That's not a moral judgment; it...

"To be afraid of change is to be afraid of growing up. Change and growth are finally the same thing. Unfortunately, the church has trained many people in not growing up..."---Fr. Richard Rohr I am a Baylor alumnus. The university itself is not a church, however, as an institution, it acts like a church sometimes. The advent of "diversity" as a concept on campus has caused a bit of "a typical BU tempest in a teapot" about what this change in hiring and operating philosophy could mean for a bedrock evangelical institution that supposedly takes it values from its constituents(churches). The recently hired Provost resigned out of protest when a campus group--professors-- stood in the way of change like hiring and operating within a culture of diversity could bring about... ....so, why are we as Christ followers so afraid of change? Father Richard Rohr explains it so well: The "alternative orthodoxy" of Francis of Assisi is of crucial importance...

One Sunday, my SS class was studying Acts and we embarked on a study of Philip, the Apostle. First, here is the  story as it is accounted for in The Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 8: 4-40: Philip in Samaria Those who had been scattered  preached the word wherever they went.   Philip  went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there.     When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said.     For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many,  and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed.   So there was great joy in that city. Simon the Sorcerer   Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery  in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great,   10  and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” ...

In The Meditations on the Tarot, the writer asserts that "the principle of springtime, of regeneration—that force of spiritual élan, or spiritual flourishing, or abundance—is the effect of the Virgin on the spiritual environment of one’s existence or of the existence of a whole host of believers who espouse the virtues of the holy mother church". "The sickness of the belief system of the Christian West, which would include the Catholic Church of Rome(who has claimed to be “the church” for centuries and the spin off Protestant churches like the Lutheran, Anglican, and others) is that they have sought to negate the force exerted by The Virgin"-- Meditations on the Tarot Could it be that the incessant efforts of women for equal rights, to vote, to work, to get paid, to assume the duties of pastors, to run for president, to be treated fairly...reflect this eternal principle, of the Virgin, of spiritual flourishing, attempting to express itself through temporal beings...

No matter what type you are, it does not matter what the specific experience is. When we are present and awake to the living reality of the here and now , the experience always has an inherent rightness. We experience the unfolding of reality as Holy Perfection. ___Understanding the  Enneagram (65)

I really do enjoy my day job these days. I am involved in an industry that is undergoing a true transformation. The healthcare industry. The post acute care segment is stepping forward into the limelight, because of patient preference( do you want to go to the hospital today?), costs of care( ever gotten a hospital bill?), and the advance of technology. At the root of this transformation is the focus of caring for infirm and dying patients who need very specific sensitivity and mercy. [Luckily for the patients, they don't have to look to me personally for that care!] Most fortunately, I have been blessed by association with the most innovative software system in home health care at the present. I have placed markers at several intervals during this busy time, and noted where I have perceived the supernatural in the midst of the new relationships, the meetings, the speaking engagements, the management meetings and decisions, the new hires, the company growth and profitability, ...

The test of a man or woman’s breeding is how they behave in a quarrel. – GEORGE BERNARD SHAW Easwaran enable me to have some insight this morning regarding my workplace challenges: When tempers are frayed, and an argument is in progress, it is very difficult for anyone to listen with courtesy to an opposing point of view.  If we could ask the mind on such occasions why it doesn’t listen, it would answer candidly,  “Why should I? I already know I’m right.”  We may not put it into words, but the other person gets the message: “You’re not worth listening to.” It is this lack of respect that offends people in an argument, much more than any difference of opinion. But respect can be learned – in part by acting as if we had respect . We show respect by simply listening with complete attention. Try it and see: the action is very much like that of a classical drama. For a while there is “rising action.” The other person’s temper keeps going up; language becomes m...