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.

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.

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!

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.

Cross in Movement, Tattooing an Ancient Practice

A few years ago I was seriously thinking about getting myself tattooed.
Tattooing is an ancient practice and has been around for thousands of years. I recently saw a short documentary where a discovery of a frozen body was found near Italy. The body was fully intact with fingers, toes, organs and skin. The man is the oldest human ever to be found, allegedly 5300 years old. What is interesting is that the corps was covered with 59 tattoos.
So just to say - the art of tattooing is very old.

A few years ago after considering the possible pain of being tattooed (I hate pain, and faint easily at the sight of blood!) - I decided that tattoos were not for me.

Recently I started thinking once more about having a tattoo. A tattoo is for life (don't thy say that about getting a dog for Christmas???), so you have to be sure that you like what gets put on your skin.
Tattooing is an art and like any other art there are different reasons for doing it. It can express beauty, symbolism, or a truth (and much more).

So after much reflection and a little impulsion I decided to go visit my tattooist with a drawing that I liked. He seemed nice (I've got an inbuilt radar that detects the nice and the not so nice), and this guy seemed nice. I showed him the motif and explained the concept behind it.
He told me that he could do it - so I made an appointment to have it done 4 days later. So I'd actually plucked up courage. The courage to conquer my fear of physical pain, but also the courage to do something that I believe in, knowing that some people are appalled by tattoos - and may think less of me because of that.

So I did it!

Here it is...

The concept is simple. A celtic style cross. The cross: a reminder that my Lord had to suffer on one in order to reconcile us to Father and to break the cycle of violence...
The motif is in movement - the movement of the trinity; Father, Son, Holy Spirit, in constant flow, within herself and connecting and flowing down to us and through us. The Presence of God.

Churning and Turning...discipleship...

Like a plough that's been churning up damp soil, my mind has been turning over the thoughts of discipleship, spiritual authority and church leaders. These themes may be unfamiliar to some of you, but if you grew up as I did in the Evangelical charismatic wing of the church, you'll know what I'm talking about.

Discipleship was seen (and still is by many) as those who have spiritual authority (basically the leaders of the local church) 'forming' those who are new in the faith. The leaders transmit 'orthodoxy' and his or her particular spin on the Christian faith. The new believer has to adhere to that which those in 'authority' tell him to adhere to. That being the rules and the dogmas of the leader's particular brand of Christianity.

Maybe, just maybe some people are comfortable with being told what to do. But I feel that there just  may be some real dangers in this form of 'discipleship'.
I've seen cases where people blindly follow the leader and this has led to dependence and also manipulation. So often, the person with spiritual authority has to play the 'I'm holier and more sanctified than you game' - this can lead to down right lying. The leader can not show his weaknesses and has to put on a show of being right in all things. i'm not exaggerating. I remember a distinct case where the leaders had to 'cover up' their weakness and  failings.

I believe that we are all messed up. In different degrees of course - but we are all basically in a mess. We all have times of doubt, anger, frustration and failure. We can put our foot in it. We can say hurtful words like knives that lacerate at the souls of the receivers.

I don't believe that discipleship is about the spiritual expert forming the novice. I see it as a mutual encouragement, setting our sights and our lives towards Jesus. I need the humility to be open to guidance and to advice from the unlikely even the stranger.
Discipleship is not about a course that we have to follow, and adhere to, and at the end signing the commitment card.

Discipleship is more about following a person, a living presence who's with us every day even if we fail to perceive her. Discipleship is about being open - allowing God to surprise us - and reveling in his love. In fact it's becoming aware that God loves us no matter what - even if we mess it up - He loves us.
So if we fall, we get up. Again and again. He takes our hand and picks us up ( often with a little help from our friends).

So all this has been turning in my mind, churning and turning...

Something before everything

What we’re doing in contemplation is learning, quite simply, how to be present. That is the only way to encounter any other presence, including God in prayer, Jesus in the Eucharist, and Jesus in others. The change is all and always on our side. God is present everywhere all the time. There really is not much point in arguing about IF and HOW Jesus is present in the bread and wine; simply be present yourself and you will know all that you need to know. It is an exercise in surrender and presence from your side alone.

We know that God is always given from God’s side, but we have to learn how to receive such total givenness, which is a very vulnerable position for humans. So Jesus said “Eat it” and did not say “think about it,” which is our defensive control tower. The Christian strategy seems to be this: struggle with divine presence in one focused, determined, and assured place (bread and wine, which is just about as universal a symbol as you can get)—and from that moment of space and time move to all space and all time. That is the final and full goal.

Richard Rohr

Walking the Earth

The miracle is not to walk on water but to walk on the earth.
- Thich Nhat Hanb

The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
Like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
True from start to finish.
- St Jean (speaking about Jesus)

Beyond Labels

Here's a wonderful article from the Evangelical Alliance:


Beyond the labels

Pope Francis has done it again.
 
This week he published an exhortation,Evangeli Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), to his followers in the Catholic Church. In it he said: “I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and clinging to its own security.”
 
There's something refreshingly unsettling about this Pontiff. He certainly isn't clinging to the security of life behind the powerful and secretive walls of Vatican City. His humility has been clear right from the papal announcement where he chose to wear simple robes and immediately asked millions across the world to pray for him. He chose to stay in a hostel instead of the official mansion residence and travels largely in a Ford Focus, rejecting the papal limousine where possible.
 
He has not been afraid to challenge hypocrisy and injustice within the religious, political and economic structures of the day. But beyond these macro-engagements on the world stage, or through Twitter, it is his encounters with individuals that has characterised his papacy so far. He has joked with journalists, washed the feet of prisoners, kissed and blessed those with disabilities and lived among the poor.
 
Pope Francis speaks of Jesus often and encourages a personal relationship with him. Again in this week’s exhortation he said: “The joy of the gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. Those who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin, inner emptiness and loneliness. With Christ, joy is constantly born anew. In this exhortation I wish to encourage the Christian faithful to embark on a new chapter of evangelisation marked by this joy, while pointing out new paths for the Church's journey in years to come.”
 
Growing up as a Protestant in Northern Ireland I am fascinated by this man and especially hearing him talk of evangelisation and being born anew. Many Protestants here were told from a church pulpit that the Pope was the anti-Christ. Yet this man challenges me deeply both in how I look at him and how I look at others.
 
You see, I label people. Not as the literal anti-Christ so much, but try as I might not to, I do label others who claim to follow Christ: sound, liberal, fundamentalist, happy-clappy. And it's not just me or confined to the Church. A brief reading of the headlines this week shows some of the labels society places on others: prostitute, druggie, slave, alcoholic. We take someone's action or aspect of their personhood and use that to define that entire person. We constantly use labels to separate ourselves and to define 'us' against 'them'. In doing so we dehumanise the image of God in others, reducing them down to a word.
 
I can't escape the fact that when I look at the way Pope Francis rejects labels and encounters individuals I am reminded of Christ. Jesus looked at people through God's eyes, literally. He refused to put labels on people, seeing the holy humanity of each person made in the image of God. When we encounter Jesus and become his followers he takes our labels away. This is part of the 'joy of the gospel', a new identity in Christ. We are given new life, new relationships with God and others and a new identity beyond our labels.

I am not a Catholic, I don't believe all the Pope believes or all his Church teaches. But seeing beyond the labels, I see a humble man made in the image of his maker with a practical love of Jesus. I can only hope others see that in me.
 
So here's the challenge this weekend. What labels have you put on yourself or on others? Is there someone you need to take out of a pigeonhole? What's stopping you seeing people through Jesus's eyes?
 
David Smyth is public policy officer at the Evangelical Alliance Northern Ireland .

Freed from th System

Richard Rohr:


Once we idealize social climbing, domination of others, status symbols, power, prestige, and possessions, we are part of a never-ending game that is almost impossible to escape. It has its own inner logic that is self-maintaining, self-perpetuating, and self-congratulating, as well as elitist and exclusionary. It will never create a just or happy world, yet most Christians never call it into question. Jesus came to free us from this lie, which will never make us happy anyway, because it’s never enough, and we never completely win.

Great Love and Great Suffering

Here's another meditation by Richard Rohr:

We must learn to be able to think and behave like Jesus, who is the archetypal human being. This becomes a journey of great love and great suffering. These are the two normal and primary paths of transformation into God, preceding all organized religion. This journey leads us to a universal love where we don’t love just those who love us. We must learn to participate in a larger love—divine love.

In this, God utterly leveled the playing field and made grace available from the first moment of creation when “God's Spirit overshadowed the chaos” (Genesis 1:2). Surely the God who created all things was thus available to all creation, starting with the so-called Stone Age people and the natives of all continents, and yes, even the barbarians. I can only assume that they loved and suffered too and thus met God, “who is love” (1 John 4:7-8).

Any journey of great love or great suffering makes us go deeper into our faith and eventually into what can only be called universal truth. Love and suffering are finally the same, because those who love deeply are committing themselves to eventual suffering, as we see in Jesus. And those who suffer often become the greatest lovers.

We Surrender to Find

A meditation from Richard Rohr:

G.K. Chesterton wrote, “When a person has found something which he prefers to life itself, he [sic] for the first time has begun to live.” Jesus in his proclamation of the kingdom told us what we could prefer to life itself. The Bible ends by telling us we are called to be a people who could say, “Come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20), who could welcome something more than business as usual and live in God’s Big Picture. We all have to ask for the grace to prefer something to our small life because we have been offered the Shared Life, the One Life, the Eternal Life, God’s Life that became visible for us in this world as Jesus. What we are all searching for is Someone to surrender to, something we can prefer to life itself. Well here is the wonderful surprise: God is the only one we can surrender to without losing ourselves! The irony is that we actually find ourselves, but now in a whole new and much larger field of meaning.

Parameters

Here's a link to a sermon on the Parameters we prefer for Jesus to work Under:

We all have preferred parameters that we think Jesus should work within.
We often think that Jesus can only work through certain channels - mainly our own particular tradition...
We limit Jesus to our own understanding...
Jesus is much bigger than our limited vision and parameters...
Grace is not limited!!!

Take a listen (it's only about 10 minutes long)


http://wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com/blogs/nadiabolzweber/files/2013/08/2013-08-25-NBW-HFASS-Sermon.mp3

Lenin & Francis

Here's a meditation by Richard Rohr:

Shortly before he died, Lenin is supposed to have said that if the Russian revolution were to take place over again, he would have asked for ten Francises of Assisi rather than more Bolsheviks. He eventually realized that something imposed by domination and violence from above only creates the same mirrored response from below. It is just a matter of time. He realized that the only communism that would ever be helpful to the world was the voluntary and joyous simplicity of a Francis of Assisi. (As a Franciscan, I am indeed a “communist” as we share all things equally and from a common purse.) That element of the practice of the early church (Acts 2:44) and of Jesus (John 13:29) was never expected of the rest of us. (One does wonder why some things become mandated from one mention by Jesus, and other things are totally forgotten?)

Voluntary simplicity was normally not lived by the clergy—certainly not the higher clergy—and therefore why would we, or could we, ask it of the rest of the church? Jesus was training the leaders first, because you can only ask of others what you yourselves have done. He was initiating them as spiritual elders, much more than ordaining them as “priests” (which is an Old Testament word never used for his apostles) or church ministers. Francis tried to correct that by refusing ordination and also by his rush toward simplicity.

Once we saw the clerical state as a place of advancement instead of downward mobility, once ordination was not a form of initiation but a continuation of patriarchal patterns, the authentic preaching of the Gospel became the exception rather than the norm—whether Orthodox, Catholic or Protestant. The first human “demon” that normally needs to be exposed is the human addiction to power, prestige, and possessions. These tend to pollute everything.

Once we preach the true Gospel, I doubt if we are going to fill the churches.

Jacques Ellul - Anarchie et christianisme

i just picked up Jacques Ellul's book 'anarchie et christianisme' and found a few quotes/notes:

La révélation de Jésus ne doit pas donner naissance à une religion. Toute religion est porteuse de guerre...mais la Parole de Dieu n'est pas un 'religion', c'est la plus grosse trahison d'en avoir fait une.

The revelation of Jesus mustn't give birth to a religion. All religion creates war... but the Word of God is not a 'religion', the greatest treason is to have made one from it.

La vérité , c'est une personne! Il n'est pas question d'adhérer à une "doctrine chrétienne":il est question de faire confiance à une personne qui vous parle.

The truth is a person! It's not a question to adhere to a "christian doctrine" it's a question of trusting a person who speaks.

Dieu continue à aimer sa création, il attend d'en être aimé.

God continues to love his creation, he's waiting to be loved by it.

Dieu est amour, l'homme est le répondant de cet amour, l'amour ne peut pas être obligé, contraint, ordonné... LA LIBERTÉ

God is love, mankind is the 'guarantor' of this love, love can not be obliged, forced, commanded... FREEDOM!

Le Dieu biblique n'est en rien une machine, un grand ordinateur avec qui on peut pas discuter et qui fonctionne selon un programme et l'homme n'est pas pour Dieu un robot qui n'a qu'à exécuter la décision de son constructeur.

The God of the Bible is not  a machine, a powerful computer with whom one can not speak and which fonctions according to a programme. And humankind is not for God a robot who has no choice but to execute the decision of its constructor.

The Moment

Here's an interesting thought by Richard Rohr

Isn’t it strange that a religion that began with a call to change or letting go has become a religion that has been so impervious and resistant to change? Many Catholics think that what it means to be a Christian is to be in love with the 13th century, or the 16th century if you are Protestant, thinking that “this is when Christians were really Christians and God was really God.” There is no evidence that this is true but it allows us to create “religion as nostalgia” instead of religion as actual transformation. Some Catholics hanker for “a true Latin Mass” not realizing that Jesus never spoke Latin—the language of his oppressors! Anything to avoid living right now where God is fully present!

What healthy religion is saying is that the real life is both now and later. You have to taste the Real first of all now. The constant pattern, however, is that most Christians either move both backwards (religion as nostalgia) or into the distant future (religion as carrot on the stick) and consistently avoid where everything really happens and matters—the present moment.  Catholics once beautifully called this “the sacrament of the present moment.” The full now is always a taste of something really real. It therefore entices us to imagine the eternal and live in an eternal now. We are just practicing for heaven. How we do anything is finally how we do everything.

Jesus and Patriotism

“Jesus is Lord” (Romans 10:9) was proclaimed by the early church, as their most concise creedal statement. No one ever told me this was a political and subversive statement, until I learned a bit of Bible history. To say “Jesus is Lord!” was testing and provoking the Roman pledge of allegiance that every Roman citizen had to proclaim when they raised their hand to the imperial insignia and shouted, “Caesar is Lord!” Early Christians were quite aware that their “citizenship” was in a new universal kingdom, announced by Jesus (Philippians 3:20), and that the kingdoms of this world were not their primary loyalty systems. How did we manage to lose that? And what price have we paid for it?

Jesus showed no undue loyalty either to his Jewish religion nor to his Roman-occupied Jewish country; instead, he radically critiqued both of them, and in that he revealed and warned against the idolatrous relationships that most people have with their country and their religion. It has allowed us to justify violence in almost every form and to ignore much of the central teaching of Jesus.

Richard Rohr

In Or Out ?

Reading Carl Medearis' 'Speaking of Jesus.
He's got lovely little chapter called In or Out in which he explores the notion of who's 'in' and who's 'out'. Personally I've been repelled by this type of thinking within the church. The insiders (those who adhere to a set of doctrines) and the 'outsiders' (those who don't).

Carl gives a couple of illustrations (they go a bit like this:

1. Draw a circle on the floor. You're in the circle and you're trying to persuade those outside to come in. Of course it's easy to step into the circle (really?) - well no, in fact it's quite complicated - you have to believe in the correct things and do the right things - otherwise you can't come in the circle.

2. Put a dot in the middle of a sheet of paper. Put other dots around it. The central dot represents Jesus. The dots around represent us. Then put arrows from the (us) dots towards Jesus. The arrow could be in a straight line or it may go off in tangents, some arrows may not even be pointing at Jesus.

The 1st illustration typically represents view of how christians see things.
The second illustration, I believe, is more of an accurate representation. Jesus asks us to simply follow Him. The arrows towards Jesus show a action of moving to Jesus - following Him.
It may be a messy picture, but it's better and more realistic.

So forget the concept of 'In or Out' - it just doesn't work, it can easily exclude people who are seeking to follow Jesus - maybe not the way we would consider - but they are endeavoring to follow Him and that's what we are simply called to do.

A Table of Fellowship

I was flipping through Alan Mann's Atonement for a 'sinless' society, when I came across this inclusive piece of communion liturgy.
I took the service at our local church last Sunday and rewrote a communion liturgy - which also majored on the inclusive nature of Jesus and the Table. I won't bother including my own as it's in French.

Here's Alan Mann's:

A Table of Fellowship

On the night that he was 'betrayed',
Jesus ate with his friends: 'betrayers' and self-betrayed, one and all.

Jesus broke bread and gave it to his friends
As a sign of his intent to die that they might have life.

He also shared wine with them
A symbol of his death
That opened to humankind the possibility of reconciliation to God,
To ourselves and to Others.

So we also come to the table of Jesus,
For that is what he desires.

We come to reflect on his story.
But we also come to reflect on our own story
And to the stories of those we love and those we struggle to love.

We acknowledge the absence of the Other in our own lives-
Both human and divine.
We have told our story for far too long
Isolated from the Other.

As we acknowledge the inadequacies of our own story,
We say that we are sorry.
For out of ignorance and weakness,
We have not found space in our stories for the presence of Others.

Though we are not against you
We have failed at being for you.
You have been absent from our lives.
As a result, we are against ourselves, for we are Your Creation.

Therefore, we lift our heads to gaze upon the cross and listen to these words of hope:
"Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."

Like prodigal child, we bring our story to the table of Jesus
Assured by the story of the Lord's Supper that we will find fellowship there.

We come
Without fear of exposure
Without fear of judgement
For this is the Lord's Table.

Though we withdraw from you and from Others
You do not withdraw from us
And so we thank you.

Our presence at this table means that we are your friends.

So, as we approach this table of fellowship
We recall those absent from all lives
And acknowledge the presence of Others here with us.

We gather
That we may become one with ourselves
One with each Other
One with God

Though we fear it.
We also come to this table so that we,
Like You,
Can 'die' to ourselves.
This is our Golgotha
This is our cross.
For we know and understand that in dying
We open ourselves up to the presence
Of Others in our lives.

Therefore, we offer Others a sign of peace
A symbol of our desire for the Other to be part of our story
And for ourselves to be part of the Other.

We come in the hope of at-one-ment.
That we may be reconciled to Others
And to the Other: God.

At this table
In this moment,
We are given another chance.
To put aside our denial of the Other
And embrace the story of Jesus as our own story.

God, into your hands we place our lives.
We look to Your story to become part of our story
And so be at-one with You, with Others and with ourselves.

Amen

Conversations with Jesus of Nazareth

Simon Parke wrote an interesting book called conversations with Jesus of Nazareth in which he simply speaks with Jesus.
here are some quotes from the book:
So you (Jesus) are offering a fresh start...Lot, to save his life, has to leave his hometown Sodom. he knows he must do it but still finds it very hard. It may have been a terrible city, but it was all he knew, and it's hard to leave what we know.
Jesus: "If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me".
So like Lot, are we asked to leave our hometown, the town of our conditioning?

Don't go with the flow like dead dogs in a stream!

So good prayer needs trust, a readiness to forgive others, seclusion (alone with God like Jesus often went to be alone with his father), and a stillness of heart.

Previously Zacchaeus had only known what he knew, a sense of lack within himself, which he tried to calm with greed. But Jesus offered a new way of seeing the world.

We need to draw back the shutters of our lives...if your whole body is well lit (light), having no dark part, it will be full of light, as when the glowing lamp shines all around. And it starts with your eyes and how we look at things.

The Kingdom of God is 'homecoming', when like the hungry (prodigal) son, we wake up, or come to ourselves. The Kingdom of God is a state of being.
The Kingdom of God is elusive, like a scent on a breeze, coming and going. It spreads out upon the earth but people do not see it.

We find our value in our relationship to our heavenly father and not in hallucinations of self-importance fueled by popular acclaim.

(Concerning the woman from Tyre)  - You're a failed separatist, teacher (referring to Jesus), or put it more positively, a man large enough to change his mind.

If you don't want the law of Moses from your people, what do you want?
Jesus: It is kindness I want, not animal sacrifices.