Touchpoints by Jim Hanson (Page 11)
Rev. “Bro. Jim” Jim Hanson serves as Spirit’s “Faith Mentor.” The dictionary defines a mentor as ‘an experienced and trusted advisor’. Jim is available for conversation throughout the day and evening for those who would like to reflect on their faith journey.</p>
Jim has worked with churches and individuals as far away as in Japan, as well as churches in the U.S. involved in Chinese, Hispanic, and other ministries. No matter where you are in your life of faith, just beginning or far along, Jim is available to spend time with you, hear your story, and reflect with you on the depth and mystery of your experience with the Divine.
Resurrection, not Insurrection
And this is where the restoration of our country will begin. In us. In us no longer staying quiet in the face of economic, racial, and judicial inequality. In us being brought into God’s kingdom rather than us trying to bring God into our kingdoms, and justify our kingdoms.
Something Needs to be Said
Grace and Peace from the Mystery in whom we live and move and have our being. “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.” Mark 1: 4-11 It’s a question of starting point. Where do you start in your journey of faith? What’s the basis for it all? John the Baptist and Jesus seem to have two different starting points. And we seem to like John’s the best. John’s starting point is about us doing something. It…
Mary Christmas
Grace and peace from the Mystery in whom we live and move and have our being. “Hail, favored one. The Lord is with you.” And, “Your relative Elizabeth…has also conceived a son.” Luke 1: 26-38 Wow! What an incredible thing to hear. The Lord is with you. The Lord has found favor with you. Who wouldn’t want that?! But then, as Paul Harvey would say, there is the “Rest of the story.” “You Mary, are so favored by God, and…
I AM (not)
This is the SIN the Lamb of God takes away from the world – our trying to be or become THAT which we think we NEED to be. Because when you realize you are not the Messiah, you actually get your life back as a gift – to be lived – and not something you have to save.
Thieving Jesus
And maybe what we need to be bringing into this world is something less, not something more. And what I mean by that, is that maybe what we first need to bring to this world is a confrontation with our need for “more,” for accumulation, for consumption. To speak a word of subtraction rather than addition.
Visiting Jesus in Prison
Christ takes on the brokenness of the world. Christ becomes the brokenness of the world. So that we in our brokenness are not left alone or helpless. And now my brokenness and the brokenness of others is not a point of separation, but of unity, of healing and wholeness.
Who’s a Scaredy-Cat?
“He GAVE. He entrusts. He gives. This is who our God is. This is what our God does. He hangs on a cross and gives forgiveness. He comes back from the dead to those who denied and betrayed him and gives them his peace.
This is who our God is. This is what our God does.”
Watch Out!
“Here is the promise. The kingdom has come and it is continuing to come. While it may seem that the time is delayed, perhaps if we were just more awake, we might see where the kingdom is breaking in, re-entering the darkness of every generation.”
Jesus Counts Your Blessings
“But as I reflect on the beatitudes this day, I begin to wonder if I’ve got some masks and costumes that run a little deeper than Halloween in my life.”
Enough!!
“Your life is a gift, not a test or a ‘have to’. You are already enough, before you do or say anything.”
Image is Everything
“This passage is like an earthquake to my common assumptions of life. It shakes to the core the basic attitude I carry about life. It is a Copernican revolution around the basic relationship between me and the world… Me and God.”