The Ego and the Soul

'The ego needs success to thrive; the soul needs only meaning.'
Richard Rohr

Wow I love this quote. I read it yesterday and was challenged.
My life is often governed by success and I feel great when I've achieved something and especially when my achievement is appreciated by someone else. This goes to show that my ego is very much alive. Meaning is depth. Depth is what the soul needs.

Dr Mitri Raheb - Seven Things You Never Knew About Palestine And The Pal...

I heard Dr Mitri Raheb speak at Greenbelt.

Here's a short video where he gives some interesting insights about Palestine.

Sermon on Sheep and Goats

Here's a link to a delightful sermon by Nadia Bolz Weber.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/nadiabolzweber/2014/11/sermon-on-sheep-and-goats/

...A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, and subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, and subject to all.  (Martin Luther, the Monk!)

To live as those whom God loves is to serve the other in that same love. I see this in you. For you are the blessed of God. (Nadia Bolz Weber)

Changing Our Minds

David P Gushee is a respected American evangelical theologian/ethicist. He has written several books about christian ethics and in his latest book 'Changing Our Minds' (publish October 2014) he confesses that he has changed his mind about the gay marriage issue and in 126 pages explains why this is so.
He takes the 'homosexual' passages in Scripture and reveals in a persuasive and coherent manner that the Bible is not anti-gay.
In his analysis of Genesis 18 & 19 (the Sodom & Gomorrah story) he convincingly shows that God's judgement has nothing to do with same-sex faithful relationships but about attempted 'gang-rape' and inhospitality. (See Matthew 10:15/Luke 10:10-12).

His analysis of Lev 18:22/20:13 is also compelling. All kinds of sexual acts are banned in the passages in Leviticus...also certain food is banned...a disobedient son was to be taken outside the town and stoned...
He writes 'If we say Christians may not accept all the laws or the principles offered in the Old Testament, but we are committed to belief in the core character of God as revealed there, such as the idea of God is holy and demands holiness, this is better. But this does not resolve the question whether all same-sex relationships violate the character of a holy God. Nor does it settle the question of whether divine holiness-at least the kind of holiness emphasized in Leviticus-fits with the character of God as taught and embodied by Jesus Christ...'

1 Cor 6:9 and 1 Tim 1:10, are often quoted as proof that homosexuality and homosexual practices are wrong and those that practice them will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Gushee points out that the context and the words used (arsenotoitai) suggest that Paul is referring to same-sex prostitution that took place in the Greco-Roman world.So it would be more fitting for the english translation to be 'sex-traffickers, 'sexual-exploiters', 'rapists', or 'sexual-predators' and NOT 'homosexual perversion'.

Gushee analyses other key verses and points to the fact that we can hold a thoroughly biblical view of same-sex covenant relationships.

He also looks at the world of science and his own personal encounters with gay christians, and comes to the conclusion that there is a place for same-sex covenant relationships.

Another book that helped me personally grapple with the gay issue was 'What God as joined together. The Christian case for gay marriage' by David Myers and Letha Dawson Scanzoni (2005).
Myers is a Professor of Psychology at Michigan's Hope College.

Allah - A Christian Response

I've just read an amazing book 'Allah - A Christian Response' by the Croatian theologian Miroslav Volf. The book is extremely well documented and researched meticulously.
I believe that it's a book that all Christians should read in order to gain a better understanding of Our God and how we can relate to Muslims and their perception of our one and true God - 'the common God of Muslims and Christians, whom we both understand in different and yet remarkably similar ways' (Miroslav Volf)

Here's a few quotes from the book: (You really need to buy it to get the full impact of his arguments but hopefully these selected quotes will be a taster)

P51 Nicholas of Cusa:

1. God is infinite & boundless- not limited in anyway.

2. Humans can’t understand what is boundless only God.

3. As the infinite & incomprehensible one, God precedes all names.

God is beyond number (in regards to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity...)

1. Oneness is prior to all plurality & is a source of all plurality

2. The Trinity in God is not plural or numerical, but is simply oneness

3. In God no opposition between ‘self’ and ‘other’

4. God is ‘one’ in the sense of ‘absolute unity’ rather than in the sense of a number

(same thinking as Augustine & Aquinas)

P54 ‘Divine simplicity’ = God doesn’t have attributes God is God’s attributes

P56 It is part of God’s perfection that God is loving in God’s own being apart from the world, and it is part of God’s perfection that God is able to create the world. Neither would be possible if God was not the Holy Trinity

P101 Both Christians and Muslims worship/believe the same ‘object’:

1. God is One

2. God is creator

3. God is incomparable and different from the world/creation

4. God is good

(P102 Worship = love G, love your enemy (Mtt 22:37 – 39) )

5. God commands that we love G with whole being

6. God commands that we love our neighbours as ourselves

P119 Muslims & Christians worship the same God. It is whether they both worship the ‘true’ God. Deeds reveal which G we worship.

P123 Same God?

1. To the extent that Christians & Muslims embrace the normative teachings of Christianity & Islam about God, they believe in a common God

2. To the extent that Muslims & Christians strive to love God & neighbour, they worship the same true God

P129 The divine ‘three’ are one single and undivided divine essence, not three divine essences next to each other compromising some kind of divine ‘troika’. The oneness of G (tawhid)

P134 ‘Father, Son & Holy Spirit do not mean one God with two beings alongside him (there are not 3 divine beings but one divine being) – the Living and Self-subsistent, associated with no other. (Rowan Williams)

P135 A basic rule for Christians as they speak about God: ‘Never divide the divine essence’

P136 Seyyed Hossein Nasir (Contemporary Muslim scholar: ‘The doctrine of the Trinity certainly does not negate the Divine Unity in mainstream Christian theology.’

P142 To say that there are ‘3 Persons’ in God means only that there are 3 eternal, inseparable, and interpenetrating agencies; in each the other 2 are present, and in each, the single divine essence is present.

P147 Why the Trinity? God in Jesus Christ reconciling the world to its divine source & goal (2 Cor 5:19) Need to encounter God at a deeper level therefore 2 things need to happen:

1. God, while not compromising God’s divinity, has to ‘come’ to human beings ‘as’ God

2. Human beings, limited as they are, need to perceive G ‘as’ G

Therefore God (not ceasing to be God) comes to humanity in Jesus Christ; through the power of the Holy Spirit, people are able to recognize Jesus Christ the self -revelation of God

P148 Doctrine of the Trinity is a way of explaining why we say God ‘is’ love, not only that he shows God (Rowan Williams)

P154 Christian meaning of ‘love’ = Commitment to give of what we have and of what we are. (Jn 3:16) God ‘gives’ therefore God is ‘generous’ therefore God is merciful – God of mercy (Islam) = God of love.

P157 Love & Justice both Christians & Muslims agree that God’s love precedes and encompasses God’s justice.

Book: Al-Ghazalis ‘The 99 Beautiful Names of God’

P162/163 Al-Ghazalis “al-Ghaffar” ‘(God) he who is Full of Forgiveness’…’makes manifest what is beautiful and conceals what is ugly’ ‘Whoever overlooks the ugly (sin) and mentions the beautiful is one who shares this attribute’. Therefore forgiveness = ‘concealment’…not seeing wrong and not counting it against the wrongdoer. And God highlights what is beautiful.

U2 Grace – "Grace finds goodness is everything".

‘Love covers a multitude of sins’ (1 Pet 4:8)

Love celebrates the good; it makes manifest the beautiful and ‘rejoices in the truth’ (1 Cor 13:6)

Book: Seyyed Hossein Nasr ‘The Garden of Truth: The Vision and Promise of Sufism, Islam’s Mystical Tradition’ (2007)

P170 Only if divine love is, from the beginning, a love for the ‘other’ within God does it make sense for God to create and love the world – the other outside God. And only if ‘other’ is already in God, does it make sense for the creation to ‘collapse’ into God.

P181 Sum up what Christians & Muslims say about God & love:

1. God loves creatures in a compassionate, gift-giving sort of way

2. God is just

3. God’s justice is an aspect of God’s love for – or mercy towards – creatures

4. Humans are called to love all neighbours as they love themselves

P202 A common commitment to love God & neighbour should lead both Muslims & Christians to seek (1) To know themselves and others truthfully and (2) spread faith respectfully

P203 Human elevation toward God, understood by each faith differently is their joint mission – to bear witness that a life of true human flourishing is possible only when we resist the pursuit of mere pleasure and in love turn toward God & neighbour.

P211 Two basic rules for witness in word & deed:

1. Witness to others only if you are prepared to let them witness to you

2. Witness in a way you think others should witness to you

Book: Al-Ghazali ‘ The Alchemy of Happiness’ (trans Claud Field 2008)

P218 The whole of humanity is divided into the city of this world and the city of God, one dedicated to the love of self (mere pleasure) and the other to the love of God & neighbour. Muslims & Christians can be allies in promoting a vision of human flourishing- centered in love for God & love for neighbour

P253 Barth: When the idol of religion is smashed and God is acknowledged as God, the world appears as a unity and the search for the common good can begin.

P254 It is time for Muslims & Christians to rebel against religion as a marker of identity and weapon in worldly struggles. It usurps the place of God in their lives. As believers in the one God, they should affirm together than no other way – no culture, no nation, and yes, not even religion – is God. God alone is God – the common God of Christians & Muslims, whom they both understand in different and yet remarkably similar ways.

Believe and Macro-Stories

Just finished reading Marcus Borg's book 'Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time' (1994).
He ends the book by speaking of 3 macro-stories that are found in the Bible and that also shape our understanding of God and the Christian life.
The first is Exodus story (meaning 'the way out/the road out') the story of Israel's bondage in Egypt under Pharaoh and their liberation.
The second is the story of Exile and return when the people of Israel were exiled in Babylon and later were delivered and able to return home.
The third is the priestly story - centered in the Temple, sacrifice and the priesthood. The story of sin, guilt, sacrifice, and forgiveness.

All three speak of journey, God's compassion and liberation. We can return home, be set free from our bondages and addictions, and know that we are completely accepted by God.
They all speak of hope.
We are called to be disciples of Jesus - those that follow after him.

The Bible speaks of 'believing in Jesus'. Believing literally means 'to give one's heart to'. So we are mistaken if we think that  believing in Jesus means to intellectually consent to a set of dogmas and facts about him and the church. To believe in Jesus is a thing of the heart, it's a relationship...

Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time - is an enjoyable read - challenging at times and brings a fresh understanding of Jesus (in 1994). Borg has written several books since so the ideas in the book are no longer new but the Meeting Jesus... is both concise and easy to understand which helps the reader to grasp some important points in Borg's thinking.

Bradley Smith @ Seclin

The 4th Seclin Motor Show took place over the weekend. Yesterday I took a butchers. Loads of bikes...great atmosphere!
Brit Motogp rider Bradley Smithwas present signing autographs. I couldn't resist having a chat with my fellow Briton, getting his autograph and a wee photo.

Bradley rides for French owned team Yamaha Tech 3. Unfortunately he crashed on the opening race at Qatar with only 6 laps to go and running 4th place. He's a great rider and he could do well this year. Only his second year in Motogp for the 23 year old.

Good luck Bradley :)

A quote from Richard Rohr:

Religion is largely populated by people afraid of hell; spirituality begins to make sense to those who have been through hell—that is, who have drunk deeply of life’s difficulties.

Stinkin Thinkin

Here's a thought-provoking meditation by Richard Rohr - explaining the dangers of dualist thinking and the necessity not to judge - which follows the teaching of Jesus.

Although we begin life, as very young children, as non-dual thinkers, usually by the age of seven we are all dualistic thinkers, and sadly many of us stay that way for the rest of our lives. Dualistic thinking is the well-practiced pattern of knowing most things by comparison. And for some reason, once we compare or label things (that is, judge things), we almost always conclude that one is good and the other not so good or even bad.

Don’t take my word for it; just notice your own thoughts and reactions. You will see that you will move almost automatically into a pattern of up or down, in or out, for me or against me, right or wrong, black or white, gay or straight, good or bad. It is the basic reason why the “stinkin’ thinkin’” of racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, religious imperialism, and prejudice of all kinds is so hard to overcome and has lasted so long—even among nice people!

At the risk of being too cleverly alliterative (though it may help you to remember), here is the normal sequencing of the dualistic mind: it compares, it competes, it conflicts, it conspires, it condemns, it cancels out any contrary evidence, and then it crucifies with impunity. You can call it the seven C’s of delusion. This is the source of most violence, which is invariably sacralized as good and necessary to “make the world safe for democracy” or to “save souls for heaven.”

There is a reason why Jesus and all the great spiritual teachers say, “Do not judge!” and why angels in the Bible are always saying, “Do not be afraid!” Our violence—and almost all of our unhappiness—emerges from our judging, dualistic mind—which itself comes from deeply rooted fear. Only unitive, non-dual consciousness can heal this violence and lead us to a rather constant happiness.

More Real Than Gravity Itself

So a film curiously named after a scientific term triumphed at the Bafta awards and there seems general agreement thatGravity is an extraordinary production.

Gravity  adopts a most basic form of drama – actors seen only as faces within spacesuits. Everything else in the film is simply not real. Every frame consists almost entirely of computer-generated special effects. These are so stunning that audiences have found it totally convincing.

But such technical genius brings us more than entertainment and valuable therapeutic escapism. It also offers an unsettling lesson on how easily the ‘not real’ can master the consciousness and so overshadow ‘the real’ altogether.

On this score, maybe Christians should more often well … get real. For we might be more in danger of unreality’s seductive spell than anyone else. The closeness that binds the faithful together can easily get the better of us so that we become too cosy, safe and insular.

“Why do people in church have to be so nice?” a teenager once complained bitterly to me. Could she really mean us? Yes of course. We wouldn’t wilfully hurt even a tree-beetle but we still grow de-sensitised to inhumanity all around us. However, scripture actually prizes the real above all.

Only a response to the real can set people free. Repentance, initial or constant, springs from cold recognition of what we secretly are: the real us. And Jesus has already inhabited places of harsh reality in order to liberate its oppressed people.

Our news media have made a brilliant job this week of popping the ‘not real’ bubble for everyone. The ‘real world’ has reasserted itself in disturbing ways over comfortable lives. Reports appear of the troubling extent of UK child-trafficking. Cruel floods and traumas strike those formerly considered better-off. And despite hopes of UK money helping to restore human rights in Sudan, an outrage is reported there – the jailing of a pregnant woman for the seeming crime of being raped. The Ukraine looks on the brink of civil war.

But perhaps most shocking of all is the UN’s report on North Korea detailed by theGuardian. The special commission on human rights has extensively documented thekwanliso, prison camps where hundreds of thousands have already suffered execution or starvation to death. Harrowing stories abound: a woman being beaten by a guard until she finally does what’s demanded of her – to drown her own baby and so stop it crying; a boy having his finger chopped off for accidentally dropping a sewing machine; chillingly, prison camps holding some people actually abducted from other countries. Tragically, this is ‘the real’ for millions, perhaps billions, in the world.

But there’s good news embedded in the bad. And it is ‘the real’ just as much as any harrowing headline. A television report on North Korean escapees asked just how these traumatised people are managing to enter a recovery process. Answer given: through the love and support of Korean churches. A poignant and moving clip follows of Korean Christians embracing escapees and welcoming them into fellowship and care. And the victims of so much brutality do attribute their progressive healing to the love and practicality of believers. Surely it’s this that scripture sees as the ultimate, ‘real’ experience for Church. Church is real when prisoners are being set free and hearts and minds healed there in every way.

So now we have the definitive form of ‘real’ – compassion in action. It trumps all dark things that are also real. But it demands the conscious choice of the will. Over and over again.

Roy Kearsley is an author and former theology and mission lecturer based in Cardiff 

Knowing Jesus

I've just finished reading the classic 'Knowing Jesus' by james Alison.

I'll just quote the end paragraph of the book (in may not do justice to the entire book but it's an excellent conclusion):

"... we  become disciples by serving serving that the intelligence of the victim (Holy Spirit) reveals to us, we will find that we have come to know Jesus, and the Father. We will be surprised to discover that what appears to be a road leading only to exclusion, and narrowing horizons, turns instead into a highway of ever increasing diversity, and the richness of learning to be moved by Another, Another who is quite without rivalry or possessiveness. And there we will know without the hidden traps of our self-delusion blinding us; we will know as we are known, and discover that our knowledge of Jesus was nothing at all compared to his knowledge of, and love for, us." James Alison

I appreciate the idea of a highway of ever increasing diversity, knowing Jesus leads us to inclusion instead of exclusion... the knowledge of Jesus gradually leads us into wider spaces...leading us into the knowledge of a God who loves...A God who is defined by love...the Father who loves the world and by imitating the Son, who imitates the Father we will be led to love the world. To receive the releasing of forgiveness that loosens us from  self-victimization, self-loathing, so that we can embrace our human ordinariness so as to immerse ourselves and relate to the world and its ordinariness and realizing that we are in complicity with its faults and violence.
Our sins no longer block us off from others, but are now made healthy in becoming a medium of solidarity instead of a motive of separation. In knowing Jesus we begin to hate our sin, not in a personal self-loathing way, but we hate our sin because of the harmful effect it has on others.

Open up your horizons!

A Prayer for the union with Divine Reality

Here's a prayer by James Finley:

May each of us be so fortunate as to be overtaken by God in the midst of little things. May we each be so blessed as to be finished off by God, swooping down from above or welling up from beneath, to extinguish the illusion of separateness that perpetuates our fears. May we, in having our illusory, separate self slain by God, be born into a new and true awareness of who we really are: one with God forever. May we continue on in this true awareness, seeing in each and every little thing we see the fullness of God’s presence in our lives. May we also be someone in whose presence others are better able to recognize God’s presence in their lives, so that they, too, might know the freedom of the children of God.

Trinity

Yes, God is “One,” just as our Jewish ancestors taught us (Deuteronomy 6:4), and yet the further, more subtle level is that this oneness is, in fact, the radical love union betweenthree completely distinct “persons” of the Trinity. What is sometimes called the first philosophic problem of “the one and the many” is overcome in God’s very nature. God is a mystery of relationship, and this relationship is foundationally and essentially love. The three persons of the Trinity are not uniform—but quite distinct—and yet completelyoned in total outpouring and perfect receiving. 

Further, our word “person,” now referring to an individual human being, was actually first used in Greek-based Trinitarian theology (persona = stage mask or a “sounding through”), and later then applied also to us! So we also are not autonomous beings, but soundings through, seemingly separate but radically one, too, just as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are. The implications could make for years of meditation. We really are created in God’s “image and likeness” (Genesis 1:26f), much more than we ever imagined. Trinity is our universal template for the nature of reality and for how to “one”!
By Richard Rohr

Baptême de Jésus

I bought a Christian Church calendar this year. It goes through the church year using different artists.

'Baptême de Jésus' is a painting by Corinne Vonaesch where she seeks to express  the life of Christ.

The image is not too abstract and close to the text - but giving space to the spectator to welcome and deepen the text with her/his perception.

Epiphany means 'to make manifest' - reveals Jesus' mission to the world in his adoration by the Magi, his baptism, his ministry and his call to follow as his disciples.

Tony Benn - Anger against injustice coupled with hope !

Philomena

Saw the British film Philomena at the cinema this morning. It's a fantastic film, sad, true and magnificently played by both main actors Judy Dench (Philomena) and Steve Coogan (Martin Sixsmith). The film is based on the true story that was published in book-form entitled 'The Lost Child of Philomena Lee', written by Martin Sixsmith. I always appreciate a true story and this was no exception.

Philomena gave birth to a son out of wedlock ( 'out of wedlock' sounds so old hat these days) - but back then in the 50s in strict Catholic Ireland giving birth outside of marriage was a shame for the family of the girl (the father of the illegitimate child had no worries !).
Philomena was sent to a convent, gave birth to  Anthony, signed away her rights to him and subsequently her son was adopted without her knowing who the parents were.

Philomena gets older but everyday she thinks of her son, his whereabouts and what he could be doing.
On Anthony's 50th birthday Philomena decides that it's time to tell her daughter about Anthony and then (to cut a long story short) gets Martin Sixsmith, the shamed Labour adviser and journalist to find her son.

They end up in America where Anthony was sold (adopted) to a rich American couple. Anthony's name had been changed to Michael Hess who had become a chief official in the Reagan administration.
He was also gay. He died of AIDs. Philomena was devastated when she learned that her son was dead.

There are some interesting points that can be highlighted from the story.

Philomena forgives the nun who kept the secret about her son's identity and whereabouts from her. The jounalist could never forgive the nun. Philomena comments that because of this he's crippled with anger and bitterness. Philomena forgave and through forgiving was released from a potential  bitterness that unforgiveness brings.  Forgiveness brings freedom.

The institution of the Church (in particularly the Roman Catholic Church) is seen in a negative light. The Church that is called to be a Light, is seen as darkness. Hiding the truth and financially profiting from the sale of babies and slave labour of young girls who had become pregnant. Unfortunately the Church often fails to live out the teaching and life of Jesus, whom she professes to follow.

I respect the character of Philomena and I can learn from her example. As already stated she readily forgives those that have trespassed against her. Forgiveness is tough, especially when you've been deeply hurt by someone. Philomena is open-hearted and continues to love and think highly of her son - even when she learns that he was a homosexual. This may not be such a big deal for most of us, but the fact that Philomena is an elderly Irish Catholic I think this may have been a large step for her.
She is 'uncomplicated' , she has a real faith, though sometimes 'deformed' by the education she'd received... actually keeping faith with such a deformed and ungodly education is admirable.

A very good film, filled with emotion and honesty.

My Religion is Kindness

Here's another meditation by Franciscan priest Richard Rohr: 

I think the genius of the Dalai Lama and of Buddhism is that they do not get lost in metaphysics and argumentation about dogmas and doctrines. They stay at a different level and thus avoid much of the endless disagreement that we find within Christianity. They do not argue about “what” but spend all of their time on “how”—which we have tended to neglect while we argue about “what.” As the Dalai Lama says, “My religion is kindness.” We could dismiss that as lightweight theology, until we remember that Jesus said, “This is my commandment: you must love one another” (John 13:34). Kindness is supposed to be the religion of Christians too!

(Adapted from Susan Hines-Brigger’s interview of Fr. Richard Rohr,
St. Anthony Messenger magazine, May 2013.)

As we continue to mature, we come to a sure sense that there is a deep okayness to life. “All will be well, all will be well, and every manner of things will be well,” as Julian of Norwich put it. We can live more and more within unitive consciousness and know the Divine Life itself is flowing through us. Your life is not about you; you are about Life! Life, your life, all life, the one life that we all share, is going somewhere and somewhere good. You do not need to navigate the river, for you are already flowing within it. For some reason, it takes a long time to get where we already are. Our goal is to intentionally participate in this mystery of what has always been our True Self. The Great Ones all agree on this: This one life, this True Self that lasts forever, is Love (1 Corinthians 13:8, 13). And we practice for it by being kind to everyone now.

Gateway to Silence:
My true self is love.

Elysium

Elysium is a futuristic science-fiction movie that was released last year (Aug 2013). I watched it on DVD last night.

I enjoy a good, action-packed film and I was not disappointed with Elysium. The Earth is diseased and those that are rich and elected can escape the polluted decaying planet to live on Elysium. Elysium is a manufactured 'planet' that can be seen from our dear planet Earth.

Max De Costa (Mat Damon) a poor earthling who was brought up by catholic sisters,was told by the nuns that he was born for a special purpose, destined for a particular reason. 

He works in a plant which manufactures androids that police earth, keeping the impoverished population in check by brutal means. Max is contaminated while working in the factory and has only 5 days to live. If he manages to go to Elysium he can be cured, for on Elysium there are machines (which resemble sun-beds) that can heal any disease. In fact, thanks to these machines one can virtually live forever.

The plot thickens when Max visits an old (air-pirate) friend who agrees to take him to Elysium. On one condition, that he downloads the data from an important elite into his own head. Max agrees. Things get wild and furious at this point. Max has also been operated on and has become a semi-robot with extraordinary strength.

Max eventually lands on Elysium after battles with those who want him killed. I forgot to mention an important element. Max has the codes to Elysium in his brain. These codes had been downloaded. 

Max dies at the end in order to open the gates of Elysium to all. 

The film evokes reflection on several issues including; the environment and our duty to look after planet Earth. Also the issue of immigration. The heaven-like realm of Elysium is an exclusive sphere reserved for the rich and elite. Our world is also divided into the haves and have-nots. The insiders and the outsiders. In my last post I spoke about citizenship. I believe that we are all to be equal citizens on planet Earth, where there is no elitism and no favorites. We are all to be valued, no matter where we come from. With this in mind I believe that our immigration policies should not be seen only to favour our own personal interests but as citizens of planet Earth they should also favour those that are more unfortunate as ourselves. Those that are fleeing misery and hopelessness should be welcomed.

Max is heroic. He consciously lays down his life so that all can enter Elysium. Now I may be stretching this, but there is a clear parallel to the life of Christ, who voluntarily laid down his life so that we can all enter into a new life - now and forever. There is no elitism, no favorites - we are all welcome into the inclusive Realm of Grace. 

Turning Consumers Into Citizens

Reading Jim Wallas' book On God's Side (what religion and politics hasn't learned about serving the common good). Saw Jim Wallas at Greenbelt last year, an inspirational speaker, who teaches with authenticity because he practices what he preaches...

In the book i came across this phrase: 'turning consumers into citizens'.
We live and breath in an acute consumer society - i'd be the first to confess to being brutally influenced by the need to spend, consume, spend, consume, spend, consume...and the contented feeling after buying the stuff. The albeit short-lived contented feeling.

So the vision of being transformed from a 'consumer' into a 'citizen' is a vision that I cling to with clutching hands that seem to be forever slipping...never seem to hold on to with much success.
I persistently refuse to be defined by the things I buy. I'm made in the image of the Creator. The free, all -Loving-Gracious Spirit who breathes Her love upon us, revealing to us that we have worth, we are valued for who we are and not for what we possess.

Refuse the consumer identity and take hold of our true identity of citizens - citizens of the Grace-filled Realm, citizens of the All-embracing, all-inclusive Grace Realm.