Touchpoints on Spiritual Growth (Page 6)
Breaking Point
“Like [the Pharisees], we might be a little disappointed to learn, at this late stage in life and after this long trek, that some of the biblical formulas we’ve clung to are wearing thin.”
Which Disciple Are You?
Which kind of disciple am I? I am all of them. Sometimes I walk away from the Christ, and the flesh and blood the Christ inhabits. “Lord, when did I see you hungry, or thirsty, or in prison?” Sometimes I declare as well, “Lord, to whom shall we go? This is where I experience life at its deepest level.” And sometimes I betray it all.
Feast on Life
Maybe all of existence is part of “I Am.” And so when we eat, we eat “I Am.” And when we breathe, we breathe “I Am.” And when we open our eyes in the morning we see “I Am.” And when we touch, and listen and take in the whole world, we are taking in “I Am.”
Shake It Off
To shake off the dust you’ve picked up following Jesus is to leave something holy behind. Dare we hope – as we leave a place where we are not welcome – to leave behind a little peace, a little joy, to leave a tinge of compassion hanging in the air?
Crazy Jesus
You see, for Jesus, the Holy Spirit is not something you can name and claim. It is so far beyond you and me that no family or religious system can contain it. It is free to blow wherever it will and it catches up all kinds of people in its presence.
No Fear
Does God discipline? Does God correct? I hope so. Otherwise, what hope do I have? Actually God doesn’t just discipline and correct, God kills and raises to new life, God brings about death and resurrection.
FORE!!!
“Repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” (Luke 24 :36b-48) What a strange way to talk about repentance. I mean, how does one proclaim repentance?
Religious Slave-dom
The Philippians passage says that we are to have the mind of Christ, and that means not counting equality with God as something to be grasped, exploited, taken advantage of. But isn’t that the goal of Christianity and religion in general. To become god-like. To be equal in purity with God. To declare that I have the righteousness of God within me and impose it on others?
Time For a Spring Dirting
Grace and peace from the Mystery in whom we live and move and have our being. 3:19b Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Genesis 3:19b It’s probably one of the least popular phrases in our liturgical year. If you were to conduct a survey of favorite worship lines or phrases, I doubt it would rank up there with “This is the feast of victory for our God.” Or even, “Lamb of God, you take away…
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.”