"authority" Tagged Touchpoints
Hidden Things
“I can’t help but take pause when I read the statements of faith from the largest and most influential churches and denominations in Phoenix, Arizona alone. They will remain nameless. This not intended to bash. It is simply what has caused my questions to emerge about belonging. I love and embrace the people who attend for purposes of children’s programs, vibrant worship, ecclesiastical comfort, duty, or passion and devotion to Christ. As a spiritual director it is not mine to determine or chastise the directions churches go in their basic assumptions. But it is mine to walk alongside many who have questions and seek those hidden meanings that have not yet transformed into brave words.”
The King’s Gambit
“When God tells Samuel, “They did not reject you, Samuel, they’re rejecting me,” God is reassuring Samuel that he did the right thing by not placing himself or anyone else above God. Even if he stands alone. He is not a failure as a king. He’s just not the kind of king they want. The Israelites want a king to do their bidding, not a King of Kings who is for them to live and move and have their being. There is only one King of all the Kings we’ve chosen. This King says, “Go ahead – choose who will lead, but understand the fallout, and know I was not chosen, I AM.”
Devils and French Fries
“The evil is real, but I do not understand it. However, since I shook off the idea that I must wage a war against it, I have not encountered it. It has no life-giving breath, but only a stink in the air. Maybe a good candle and a centering prayer will help create an emotional receptivity to God as king rather than a panic-driven election of a false god.”
The Divine Slam Dunk
“What we think may not be the authority, but it reveals what we have surrendered to. If we believe that we belong once we ask the Spirit to indwell, then prior to this moment, we did not belong. There would be prerequisites. What if we always belonged in our intrinsic nature? Changing our thinking, metanoia (repentance), is simply surrendering to the declared truth that always was.”