"Jesus" Tagged Touchpoints
The Risen Bread of Life
“The comedian in me wants to believe Jesus had a great sense of humor with his disguise. Jesus starts walking ahead of the two men and they say, “Dude, come with us. It’s late and we all need to eat.” Jesus’ plan is working perfectly! No more parables, no more feeding them with a spoon. No more pulling grains of wheat to quench their hunger, no more seeds to scatter. No more lessons on how a stalk of wheat grows. The Bread of Life has fully risen and it’s time for the feast of life!”
Untying the Colt of Peace
“Perhaps this was why Jesus told his apprentices to take nothing with them. They would need the help of others… places to sleep and food to eat. The needing, and serving those needs, would unify people along the way. They would not have tools of transaction or the temptation to respond to people with weapons. He was teaching them to ride in on a donkey of peace and the power of humility as well as action. Sharing and valuing others, asking for assistance, instead of seeing others as a threat, was the biggest blow to political and religious displays of might.”
So Very Loved
“Jesus took his place as the Son of God and returned the compliment to us. To believe Jesus is the Son of God is to believe that we, too, are the children of God, a title greater than any title a human being can be given.”
Wild Goose, Free Spirit
“May we offer an alternative. May we open the doors and windows of our personal and institutional temples. May the cords of Jesus swing with love, agapao love. May it have the snap of compassion, the wind of spirit. May it bring the rain of grace to soothe the wounded. May it be embodied in the bread and juice in a new political and religious party. The new wine party poured into new wineskins and shared to all those hungry for authenticity and a full welcome! May it be for the posers, fakers and wannabes that Brennan Manning describes.”
Physics, Bro!
“Seriously though, when we attempt to impede the journey of another person, we are interfering in the intimacy with their God that develops in the good times and in the bad times. Sometimes the best thing we can do is accompany them in their journey. I lived Andi’s life for her in order to control the outcomes. Isn’t that what Peter did?”
The King of Hearts
“Remember when, for positive thinking, we were supposed to state and repeat the promises of God? Well, here’s one of the promises that was never included in the bunch. Jesus said, “In this world there will be trouble.” (John 16:33) You’ll never see this promise as a magnet on a refrigerator. I get the feeling Jesus’ time in the wilderness was not far from his mind when he said this. Indeed, there is trouble in our outer and inner worlds.”
It’s Absurd
“To paraphrase De Mello, it only takes a willingness to see things in a new way. This is what I like to tell my clients in AA. ‘You’re right, it’s not about willpower. Willpower doesn’t work. It’s our willingness and God’s power. If you are faced with repercussions for seeing things in a new way, you also may be invited into the ineffable presence and co-laboring nature of God, who is not anything like the master in this story.'”
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.”
A So-So Sower
“This parable is about a sower who sows his Word of grace and forgiveness over all the terrain of my life. The hard-hearted times. The shallow and self-centered times. The easily excitable and flaming out times. And yes, even the good times.”
Losing It
“Found in our lostness. What a frightening and freeing prospect. So, maybe I should have a bumper sticker that says “I lost it,” rather than “I found it.” And yet, it is exactly this ‘lostness’ that Jesus is calling me to lean into, to walk into, to embrace. And to embrace not only my ‘lostness,’ but embrace all the others who society has deemed ‘lost’ and ‘irredeemable.’”
Turning Point
“Repentance is something that happens to us. It is something that changes us. God acts and we are changed. God acts and we see things differently. God acts and we turn around. Some people have said the word ‘metanoia’ means to turn around, but I think a better phrase would be ‘turning point.’”
Named and Claimed
“But here is the good news: God has named us and claimed us. Not the other way around. In the waters of baptism, we are called by name and claimed by God. In the giving of the bread and wine in communion, we are named and claimed as the residing place of God’s presence.”