awaken the force ..

no .. i didn't watch the starwars thingy ..
not there
nor into the camping out for a week to see it
   what's with that ??
      that's not crazy, it's a freakin' addiction, or mental disorder ..

maybe someday when the hoopla dies and people dry out, or get psych help ..
   kinda like the same way i buy my jeans - used, and not-the-latest-model

..

perhaps in the (conservative) evangelical drive to hush the ecstatic expression of christianity in its pentecostal and charismatic forms (glossolalia, healing gifts, etc.) it has hushed too the voice of the prophet ..

and that's bad news ..
sad
for in so doing a much-needed voice in this christian west is silenced
   or merely murmurs

   ( the prophet of whom i speak is not the Predicter (we like to associate
   prophecy with foretelling), but the Messenger of God with a message ..
   there is a difference )

..

it seems to me that that voice is precisely the missing ingredient in the secularised politicised entertainmentised euthanised mostly-irrelevant church in this Earth today ..

that bold calling from the fringe, the border, the gutter of Christ's church, recalling a called-out people

this christianity has walked away from its god
   leaving God in the streets
hiding in impressive castles among the cliqued
   safe and secure in its dogmas and doctrines and rituals
      certain that God is in control
while humanity suffers outside the gate
   where Jesus went ..

we need that prophetic voice back
to bring amazing shock to this languishing Relic
   rousing it from the comfy pew
   blasting its lackadaisicality
   reminding it of its place in the Earth
calling for repentance from dead works to vibrant faith that works ..

   faith that works

a locust-and-wild-honey voice that speaks from the wilderness
   that loudcalls " prepare the way of the Lord ! "
to the kings that be ..
   not the secular presidents and prime ministers and sheiks
   but the religious royalty in the pulpit and seminary

only the prophet can dislodge the power-clergy
open the ears of the people
drown-out the mummifying drone of the pulpit
break-down the walls
   smudge-out the clean lines that divide the secure pew-bound
   from the hungry, the poor, the orphan, the alien, the homeless,
   the addict, the refugee, the muslimjewhinduatheist ..
      for just there
      right there
      over there
         is Jesus ..

..

perhaps the evangelical was wrong
perhaps prophecy didn't die-out
perhaps it just went to sleep

methinks it's time for the prophet to awake

God knows
religion sure could use a wild-honey tongued wildman
walking the fringes of christianity
calling-out the church
   to righteousness
   justice
   mercy
in the street

where are you, o prophet ?
arise !

it's time for the awakening force ..
it's past time

pause ..

It stands as the most communal time of the year
what with smiles and holding doors and generally kindnesses everywhere ..
everybody changes at Christmas somehow..

As the food and the merriment flow, it would do us well to pause, just for a moment, and consider ..
this celebration and unaccountable embrace we share is a brief encounter with a promise from on high - "and of his peace there will be no end" .. a promise in hope, of hope, that one good day the king of peace will reign, and peace will spread across the earth, a welling flood of cool clear refreshing

And consider..
while some of us share smiles and goodwill with our Earthmates, there are far too many of us for whom this is not their experience today - they sit alone somewhere, observing from a distance.. maybe soldiering in foreign lands, or familyless, or homeless, or refugeeing in fear..


Just a pause is all I ask
and a prayer
to the one who cares desperately for each of us ..
an acknowledgement of Godlove in the face of Jesus, Son of Human, who willingly and with aforethought walked away from his place of Peace, left his home, and became one of us in our place of Nopeace, to share in our plight ..
himself homeless at times, a refugee at times, forsaken at times, ridiculed and laughed-at at times ..
so that we might share in his inheritance - so that we too might be called children of God ..

a prayer of intercession for the hurting

a prayer of thanks for the lowly child that one day would wash the feet of his humanity

peace to you

all this evil .. and God ?

a friend mentioned to me today that they don't spend much time on God anymore ..
all the things going on in the world .. just doesn't make sense
the videos of isis slaughtering tons of people, using children to execute people ..
mass shootings ..
they don't have time anymore to do the apologetics to keep them convinced this stuff can happen with an omniscient god

and might i add
syria and the 1 million refugees this year
homelessness on the rise in many cities
corruption in the government of the 'greatest' 'democracy'
the ever-increasing disappearance of the middle class as the wealthy trump everyone else
   and use their wealth to expand their wealth at the cost of those without wealth
the rise of the new religious right-eous
   packing weapons for self defense
   pointing out the muslim for demarkation
   positing fear in the name of the God who drives out fear
   calling for war and killing
      while many many innocent civilians died this very year in war
         some from american bombings

who can blame my friend ??
i can't
and i won't
how can i

..

the question asked by my friend is one of the oldest think-inspired questions in the christian religion ..
and they're still trying to answer it today as best they can
and for good reason too ..
'cause we have been reared on a baseline of the sovereignty of God
and everything springs from there
everything ..

so that the obvious question " how can an omniscient ( think all-powerful ) God allow evil ? " dogs christianity as it runs over hill and dale proclaiming the christian god is God and everything is under God's control ! everything that occurs is according to his will ..

.. when the emPHAsis is on the wrong syllAble .. well ..

`|`

that conundrum has a term in theology .. it's called a ' theodicy '


i posit this one thing for our consideration ..
if the god-that-is controlled everything ( or even most things ), determining in detail what was going to happen
and if that god restricted evil
   then where would freedom be ?
and if there is no freedom in the creature
   then where would love be
because, my friend, love cannot be forced ..

love cannot be forced

now backtrack ..
if love cannot be forced, then God cannot determine our actions
and if God can't do that, then evil must be allowed to exist ..
if not, there isn't freedom
and no freedom means no love

and no love = no God
   at least not the christian god

..

that's my simplisticated argument
of course, you can google the theodicy thingy and find a library chock-full of theological treatises
and you can find some simplified ones too
like  this one
and you can get a wonderful audio book free that's written for simplisticated people like you and me
here

..

one other thing ..
we might be able to walk away from God because we can't explain this God alongside the persistent existence of horrible evil ..
but not Jesus

not Jesus ..

peace to you

an antiChrist christmas ..

this used to be my favourite time of year
  still is, i suppose
just that it's a lot quieter now

the cards i've played (and sometimes dealt myself) have left me solitary for the most part ..
God's been watching this game, saved me from bankruptcy many many times .. for which i am eternally in God's debt
i know that
i try to live that

i have very fond memories of cousins and the family lunch, really outstanding dining, right down to the black cake, a delicacy based in currants that had been soaking in rum for a loooong time ..
i miss it

..

but i don't miss the retail/media's manipulation, relocating God's gift to humanity into people having to gift, whether it's because " we have to: they're family ", or they're family of family, or my boss, or whether it's because " they give the children gifts every year " ..
the coercion of christmas - the one time of year when we humans should be basking in the light of that glorious Gift, graciously given to any who would receive it thankfully

i'm in another of my personal rebellions against the powers and authorities that rule this world, enticing us to spend what we mostly don't have to give things that people mostly don't need to people we mostly don't want to, but our society demands
another madness

while people in need are accommodated at christmas because it's christmas, but then left to revert to ' in  need ' the day after christmas, panhandling their days to feed and clothe themselves for another day, and look for some dark corner or hiding-hedge to crawl under for another sleepless night of coldfear, cuddling a bottle of warmth in the hope that their stupored mind will let go just for a couple hours .. maybe sleep will come tonight ..

that's the dread imbalance, the morbid injustice - complaining people that have, doing despite, rude hateful animosity, to those that don't, wishing them illwill amid a littany of spittled curses and naming - " Bum! Get a freakin' job! " ..

that's not Christmas; it's an outright antiChrist campaign covered loosely in mac 'n cheese and christmas ham and sweet potato pie to soothe the accusing conscience, it's own opiate, only not in a bottle this time .. " 'Course not! I'm not a drunken bum! "

..

where, o where is justice this christmas .. the justice that consists in helping the oppressed and abused, the unfortunate, the poor, the downtrodden, the homeless, the runaway, the enslaved, the mentally shattered, the addict, the much-maligned muslim, the molested, the .. those humans, those people, my sisters and brothers who have not in this the wealthiest-ever nation in Earth history

maybe celebrating christmas this year will consist of re-reading the humble story of gracious giving by Godself to an undeserving, motley and muddied bunch of ungrateful self-absorbed people that cannot see past their own $-shaped nose
and asking that God to show me someone in need of any help i can provide, in Jesus' name ..
and maybe in that i too can experience help in better knowing and understanding this God that loves the unlovable, gives overflowingly to the ingrate, washes the feet of the enemy, embraces the leper, releases the adulterer, opens the blinded eye, loosens the tiedtongued, fixes the broken heart, offers Godlife in the endless pursuit of reconciliation of us, the rebels, the antiGod

perhaps as i learn the humility of the Divine in loving me, the ungodly
i too will learn to be humble toward the humbled

that's my christmas wish
in Jesus' name

the enduring flexibility of the scriptures ..

Someone recently said the preacher commented on the argumentativeness within Christianity over theology - the meaning of words, etc. .. they said how unlearned people are able to read the Bible and get it, just so. So why all the fuss?

Well, for one thing, the Christ, as Head over the church, gifted the body with pastors and teachers and evangelists and prophets for a reason. People need to be taught (and reminded and encouraged).

For another, there are many scholarly teachers whose late-in-life remarks tended towards a desire for more life (lives) to study the Scriptures more - they felt there was plenty more to be mined.

For another, scripture has teaching and learning opportunities at all levels of knowledge and understanding and experience and maturity.

For another, 2015 is not 1615 nor 515.. Times change and the world as it is now is certainly not what it was then, or then, nor what it was when the traditions were penned.

For another, to wish the scriptures were math-ish, 2+2=4, and so everything contained there could be so organized and formatted such that a person with enough time and attention could 'master' the two-times table of scriptural truth is tantamount to reducing revelation to rote simplistic lessons to be learned on the school bench.

This is history, poetry, storytelling, prophecy, apocalyptic, parable. It is literature in all its varied grandeur, and that is not math - it is life. And it is told in all its horror and splendor, humanly, with a twist of Godview, divine worldview.
To attempt to codify it, define it, boundary it, even to dogmatize it or overly systematize it, is to reduce its glory to legalistic propositions, and that benefits no one, save for those who live in the fear it could be wrong, or doubted, or assailed by logic or argument of some kind. It would be to transform the beauty of it to mere words and disputed formulae, and that sucks all the umph out of it, surely.

There lies as much meat as a person can consume, as much depth, as much breadth, wonder, confundity, and profundity as one is willing to undergo in effort, in thought, meditation, consideration for a lifetime.

It is subject to varied meanings because I am not today what I was 20 years ago, neither am I that person over there, or that person across the sea in a markedly different culture.

The, to me, marvel of Scripture is its speakability to different people at different times in different places with different circumstances, and surely what it says to me could well be far different to what it says to you in your place.
The spirit of God does that. The Spirit speaks and witnesses to my spirit the things of Scripture to grow me, to call me, to move me, to change me, to impassion, to sober, to point, to break me down, and some other day build me up, strengthen today, bring me to my knees tomorrow.

Jesus himself made parable his trademark teaching mode, and parable strikes at the heart, calls for introversion, head-scratching, assaults, confounds, questions me, beckons me out of my know-it, bombard my conscience.
To reduce that to a simplified lesson is to unjustly do it much injustice.

No, Scripture is not quantifiable like a weights and measures table, nor learnable like some poem to be recited mindlessly. It is a powerful tool, able to strip the human of any sense of 'I know' and leave them in wonder at the awe of God and the awe-ful tendency of humanity towards control and the power to judge.

Scripture deserves to be honored for its flexibility, its ability to transcend time and circumstance, to strike me down here in 2015, right where I am, even as it did in quite a different way 2000 years ago, wielded by the selfsame spirit of God.

It deserves that freedom, that passion, that power, and that can only be mined by the mind willing always to learn, to relearn, to learn anew under that Spirit's guidance.


Seek not to know it, but to experience it
not to master, but be mastered by it ..

peace to you

upping the ante ..

just to up the ante ..
   maybe try somehow to balance-out the crap that christianity is serving-up to the world at large
i thought today of visiting a mosque
just so they know there's a white Jesus-follower who has no problem with their presence in this country, practicing their religion and all ..
.. and i've started looking into that

meanwhile, i spoke to a good christian friend, and during the conversation i told them my think ..
i fairly well knew the response i would get
basically all muslims want the world in their power, not only the radical jihadists
and then there was the Muhammad thing - a most violent person ..
and the battles they have fought and people killed
and .. .
..

and i thought ..
wait .. . . ...  .
hang on a minute .. have you read the older testament?
and do you know that David was refused by God when he told God he wanted to build a temple for God ? .. because David's hands were too bloodied ?
and have you read the ' commands ' that God gave to israel to wipe-out wholesale nations of people, including women and children and old people ?

and, just in case the response then is, " well, that's the old testament ", might i point out Constantine ? ..
and might i also point out the Crusades, one of the bloodiest rapacious escapades ever ?
both of those were conducted after Christ, and in the good name of Christianity, under the sign of the cross of Jesus Christ ..
not to mention the horrors of the Inquisition under the roman catholic church ..
or the unmentionable subjugation, and in some cases annihilation, of peoples across the planet by the christianized europeans, often, again, in God's name ..

so .. listen .. when your pot is black you should be careful in accusing the kettle ..

in our times, not too long ago, people were sold and bought as personal property
   in this country
and were beaten and killed and raped because they were considered to be non-human
   and that with open bibles at hand, quoted to boot ..
..
and too, if memory serves me, it was 1964 that one the Good Reverend MLK had to endure hardship alongside many many blacks in this country because the legal abolition of slavery had never really been met in the street called Reality in the 100 years since abolition
and lost his life alongside many many black people in their unrelenting pursuit of the happiness and the constitutional declaration that all people are created equal
..

so, when we talk about Islam wanting to subjugate the world ..
we need to look our white christian face in the mirror first
   and remove the plank from our eye



and then
love that muslim
in Jesus' name
for he too is created in the image of God

peace be unto you

christian suicide ..

it's difficult to figure where to start here..
it's like .. this is crazy
the things i want to say seem so damned obvious ..

this has been a week-long wonder at if-to-say what-to-say
like, superfluous ..

..

i guess i could hit on the headliners
the political madness among the trumps/rubios/cruzs
   who want to ban muslims
      like they were some fracking exxonmobil
         wait ..! they're not even being discussed - my bad ..
or the paris COP21 madness among the world's nations
   who waver at stemming the bleed-out
      like the #1 polluter, ye ol' great US, was some global priesthood,
      pristine and pointing burnt and bloodied fingers
         wait ..! that's hardly even being pointedout - my bad ..
or the madness among the 'christian' nations of the west
   who are and have slammed their doors to the many thousands fleeing for life
      like they were some righteous form of human
         wait ..! i forget - christianity, pure as the driven snow
   
`|`

so .. here i sit
befuddled
kerfuffled
all muddled
.. and muddied
my own brand of religion is swimming in a morass of filth
and i've been dog-paddling, trying to stay afloat
slimy green goop choking my lifebreath

and that shocks my naivete more than any of the other madnesses running loose ..
it utterly deflates this soul
i grasp desperately for whatever straws are out there
hoping to make it through this sickening crud alive
with some semblance of human nobility
at least a modicum of 'christian' faith
.. but it's hard ..
alas, i fear i'm drowning

`|`

for the people that speak loudest and boldest for christianity
are shooting the faith in the foot
and the world is watching

the world is watching

what's more
   and this really defines it
the world is correcting the antichristianity of christianity ..
as a muslim once said, "Mahatma Gandhi was right. Everyone in the world knows what Jesus Christ was about - except for Christians."
and there ya have muslim and hindu truth in the face of christian misdirection ..

but aside from the religious comment
the world at large is watching these christian bigboy bigots
and scratching its head in confusion ..
because the person this religion touts is Jesus
   and when they compare the 2
   they are confused
      and rightly so
      absolutely
and, my friend, God is not the author of confusion

the reason for the confusion is not hard to fathom
because when they read the gospels
they see what Jesus said and did
and what they see there and hear here is worlds apart

2 irreconcilable worldviews

irreconcilable !

madness

..

the gun-totin' jerry falwells who advises students of the largest christian university in this country to carry, and he is its head  ..
   may he fall well
      as in  " .. everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house,
and it fell,
and great was the fall of it.”
      so says Jesus ..
      ( Matt 7: 26, 27 )

the franklin grahams
   who speaks in the very place of his billy father
   saying muslims must be stopped
      billly, who i hope is grinding his teeth in trepidation and
      angst at the uncivil uncouth comments of his offspring

then there's the progeny of swaggart who drool the same hateful spittle
their dribble pooling on the pulpits and communion tables

..

i had another application for this pic
but i use it here to propose that the religion Jesus never meant to start has and, more pertinently, is now killing him afresh ..
killing the king of glory
now
here
displaying him to public shame
while all the world looks on
   astounded
   confounded
   dumbfounded

..

i could quote Jesus all day long
but i won't ..
because if you're too lazy or uninterested in reading in scripture what he said for yourself .. well, then
..
and that's precisely a marked part of the problem
many want to be 'christian'
but we hardly know the Lord Christ
what he said and did and how he behaved
what he thought and liked
what his attitude was ..
'cause we don't read it for ourselves ..
we let some jackass on a soapbox on the tele tell us

and then we wonder at the comment He made, " then i will say to them, depart from me! i never knew you "

we deserve to be beaten with many stripes for our disingenuity ..
..

real christianity is not defined by them
or by the christian universities and seminaries
it is defined by Jesus, the Lord Christ

..

and so, in my own remorse
my own version of repentance
i testify that i am ashamed of the label 'christian' ..
and i no longer lay claim to it

its history and its testimony and reputation today leave me no other choice
i want nothing more to do with the label

..

i have denounced, in this order, protestantism, the cult of christian fundamentalism, evangelical, and now i've cut my self off
   to the dismay of my godly mother
from the christian label

i want nothing more to do with it

and you know what ..?
i believe that if you asked Jesus today if he aligns himself with it
he would say "No!"
   exclamation mark included

and I follow him !
   exclamation mark included

not any religion

not any preacher

not any church

not any denomination
   He trumps them all

i done !

and i'm pissed!

christianity has put a loaded bible to its head and assassinated itself for all the world to see
and they borrowed jerry falwell's gun and franklin graham's hand

`|`

if anyone asks me about my faith, what i believe, why

i will begin here - i follow Jesus

i am his disciple

that's who i am

that's who i try to be

that's my story

..

i'll still attend any church i can find that will uphold and uplift Jesus in truth
and support it
but i wear the label no more

..

now

dare i say

peace to you

ps.

i relent ..
here is part of Jesus' teaching ..
read it, if you will
it's quoted from Matthew 5

One day as he saw the crowds gathering, Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down. His disciples gathered around him, and he began to teach them.
“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him,
    for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
God blesses those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.
God blesses those who are humble,
    for they will inherit the whole earth.
God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice,
    for they will be satisfied.
God blesses those who are merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.
God blesses those whose hearts are pure,
    for they will see God.
God blesses those who work for peace,
    for they will be called the children of God.
God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right,
    for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.

You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.

You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!

You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’
But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.
So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.
When you are on the way to court with your adversary, settle your differences quickly. Otherwise, your accuser may hand you over to the judge, who will hand you over to an officer, and you will be thrown into prison. And if that happens, you surely won’t be free again until you have paid the last penny.

You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’
But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. So if your eye—even your good eye—causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your hand—even your stronger hand—causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

You have heard the law that says, ‘A man can divorce his wife by merely giving her a written notice of divorce.’
But I say that a man who divorces his wife, unless she has been unfaithful, causes her to commit adultery. And anyone who marries a divorced woman also commits adultery.

You have also heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not break your vows; you must carry out the vows you make to the Lord.’
But I say, do not make any vows! Do not say, ‘By heaven!’ because heaven is God’s throne. And do not say, ‘By the earth!’ because the earth is his footstool. And do not say, ‘By Jerusalem!’ for Jerusalem is the city of the great King. Do not even say, ‘By my head!’ for you can’t turn one hair white or black. Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one.

You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’
But I say, do not resist an evil person!
If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also.
If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too.
If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles.
Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow.

You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy.
But I say, love your enemies!
Pray for those who persecute you!
In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.
If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that.

But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. "

   and there's more
like chapter 6 ..
read on ..

peace be unto you

the only real response to Love .. and hate

when the day comes that i meet the Lord Christ
i will be utterly naked
like he was
on that cross
..
whatever i used to cover my self will lie shredded at my feet ..
the makeup, hat, sunglasses
education, religion, colour, class, decency, wealth ..
   denuded
   bare-boned
   soul all exposed
   my heart expertly scalpeled, it's cancer blackening the floor, running ..

there is no defense
there is no plea
no legal response, justification, rationalization ..

just the accumulated thoughts and intentions
the piled-up things i did
the person i became with each added second
each look
word

just me

and him

         selah

`|`

that's a sobering thought
if you believe in lifeafterlife
if you believe in God

..

i don't want anybody to see me
   filthy
thief
liar
murderer
adulterer
selfish
arrogant
hateful
addicted
harbouring revenge, grudgingly
wicked

i have shattered every law of God
made a mockery of my morality
shamed the god i claimed ..
not an ounce of worthy in that skeletized me

no hope ..  ?

nothing to bring
nothing to offer
..
        .    . .  ...

and then

he will embrace me

like he did on his cross

just so

no worded interlude
no reminders
no humiliating look
   or pointed finger
no blame

simply
embracing love

..

because he knows
he's been there
just there

he became the scapegoat of Atonement ..

but more ..
he became
   our sin
my
   sin

" God made him to be sin
      he who did not know sin, never sinned
for us
so we could be made righteous before God
      through him .. "
         (2Cor. 5.21)

           ..    .     .   .   . .

the Lord Christ
  filthy
thief
liar
murderer
adulterer
selfish
arrogant
hateful
addicted
harbouring revenge, grudgingly
wicked

..

he
became
my sin

and bore them away, in his body, into the Wilderness of Noreturn ..

" we despised him
we thought God was punishing him for his own sin
   and we turned away
but it was for our transgressions
   our iniquities
   our rebellion "
      (isaiah 53)

.. the Lamb of God

`|`

the embrace of the death cross becomes the embrace of life

astounding
unthinkable
incomprehensible

it cannot be explained
   only accepted
a gift with no comprehensible explanation

grace

         selah

`|`

if that is what Jesus did
for me
   what then is my 'reasonable' response
      ?

pure adoration
pure gratitude
pure service
   pure love

overflowing abundant life now in this overwhelming abundant love

disciple

..

if then Jesus did that 

for me

   in my wickedness

      what then is my response to my neighbour

         ?

my homeless neighbour

my blackasianindianmexicansyrian neighbour

my refugee neighbour

my alien neighbour

my hindujewishbrahmanatheist neighbour

my muslim neighbour

         ?

..

i wash their feet

   in Jesus' name

.. .    .        ..       .        ...  .

paris, another visit ..

this blog reflects an intention to speak my spiritual journeying into cyberspace ..
i have no idea what, if any, effect it has on anyone wherever ..
but that's not my business

so that the focus has been spiritual, whatever thaat means to me ..
unfortunately, i have circumscribed 'spiritual', with the result that i haven't voiced my thoughts on many issues

today i choose to circumcise that

here's why (although i imagine this will be somewhat difficult to explain) ..
historically for me, religious/spiritual/christian has been limited to 'moral' issues, and to issues directly relevant to 'the faith', mostly found in the do's and don't's of the 10 Commandments and the newer testament's proscriptions and admonitions
i was reared in a seriously 'militantlly' conservative christian church and church context, originating in the US's Bible Belt - specificaally, what is termed as 'the buckle of the bible belt'
the vision of that movement was to restrict itself specifically to evangelization and biblical instruction

issues that fell outside those narrowed boundaries were generally considered to be not our business as christians
ours was to focus on the souls of people, with a view to getting them 'saved' ..
missionary endeavours was a significant focus, both from the pulpit and from the treasury, and our little church of humble means sent missionary support across the globe - Bhutan, Africa, India, Israel, Guyana (S Am), etc. ..
in Africa alone we were responsible for helping to start-up (at my last count, some 10 yrs ago) almost 40 churches
to be real, we helped those communities with issues that concerned the church folk, like chicken farms, sewing machines, bicycles, and help constructing the church buildings
but the overriding concern was the gospel, people being saved; everything else was secondary and, to be frank, fell down the priority list

that is my context

..

i recently lived in california for a year
a privilege
for it was there i was exposed to a different think, religiously; i came to see things from another angle, sort of like hanging upside-down from a tree branch to look at the world ..
much of that came out of my being with, and serving, homeless people

and what my naivete was taught is that my brand of christianity has truncated the gospel, restricting its interpretation and application far below the heights for which it is intended by the God of the gospel

..

i provided that context because i believe there are others out there with a similar background, a like-context, and maybe something here will spark recognition and redirection

..

i say that to say this: in days of old i would have relegated the climate-change issue to that secondary level: let others deal with it, even if it's true ( there's enough evidence out there to ratify that conservative/fundamental christians have denied the reality of global warming ); mine is to focus on the evangelization ..
today i walk a different road
i'm learning that my narrowed view of the gospel is untenable, unscriptural and unGodly ..
and i'm trying desperately to change

global warming is not anymore an issue to be debated
it is a responsibility for which i will be held accountable by the Creator of this planet
it was He that said in the beginning that humanity was responsible for the management of the good earth and its creatures, to watch over and preserve it, to work in it, to service it

it is obvious now, to all who have ears to hear, that we stand on the cusp of what could soon be an irretrievable boundary, an earth to which there may be no going back, a burned and badly scarred planet ..
it is our duty to Creator God to stand with all who recognize this and are moving to stem the bleed-out
hopefully it is not too late

..

i've posted a link at the bottom of this page to a very interesting 50 or so minutes of discussion on what really is transpiring in paris
(the meat of it follows the headlines)

please make the time to view it .. all of it
it sets in context the ultimate failure of the planet's governing bodies to take this matter seriously, including, shamefully, the US who not only are a major contributor to the problem, but who refuse to be serious about rolling-back this tide of destruction

i am saddened
most likely, in my view, the Monied are again pulling strings - purse strings and puppet strings

..

there is a verse somewhere in the backside of The Revelation of Jesus to John ..
“ We thank You, Lord God, the Almighty,
who is and who was,
because You have taken Your great power
and have begun to reign.
The nations were angry,
but Your wrath has come.
The time has come
for the dead to be judged
and to give the reward
to Your servants the prophets,
to the saints, and to those who fear Your name,
both small and great,
and the time has come to destroy
those who destroy the earth. "
      (Rev 11. 17,18)



the last sentence is noteworthy ..
and we are judgementworthy

(the pics are of the shoes of those who would have participated in a disallowed march in paris under the guise of the recent attacks)

the link:-
paris, climate change, Democracy Now