Spiritual Awakening

"The day of my spiritual awakening was the day I saw - and knew I saw - All things in God and God in all things."
Mechtild of Magdeburg

CHURCH ACTUALLY

Gerrard Kelly has written a delightful little book called Church Actually - rediscovering the brilliance of God's plan. In it he describes in radiant multi-colour the beauty and purpose of the church.

here are a few quotes from the book:

"I was not created to be a neutral presence in the world...I was made for significance; for fruitfulness.
My desire is to leave the world in a more beautiful condition than that which I found it.

We are sent into the world not to rescue people from it, but to bring to it all the change that grace can bring.

The deeper we dive into Him, the further we find ourselves thrust into His broken world.

The Spirit whose presence we seek in prayer is present already in the world. We do not lead him we follow. We do not bring him to the poor, we find him with them.

The inbuilt desire for human beings to seek wealth and power, and to secure themselves behind walls and fences of economic strength, will mean that the Kingdom tendency to move towards the poor will be resisted.

The church is an environment in which tribes in tension find power to coexist.

Abraham is not a model of the kind of faith that waits to be taken to a better place. He is a model of the kind of faith that knows that this place will one day be better.

The energy of our participation in the building of God's Kingdom will be dictated by the strength of our dreams."

May we all rediscover the brilliance of God's plan.

Thanks Gerrard for reminding us.

The Gospel Redefined

I've been in blogland and came across a guy called Carl Medearis. He's  a follower of Jesus who's been for many years in the Arab world and has an interesting spin on Jesus and religion.

To be honest I warmed to his approach, his love and passion for Jesus.

here's an article he wrote in the Huff Post.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carl-medearis/the-gospel-re-defined_b_1327872.html

The gospel is not about a religion, but about Jesus, his message and the Kingdom of God!

So do we need to redefine the Gospel? possibly so!

The Kingdom

The Kingdom
by Sheila Barsuhn

When secondhand, we heard the shepherds call,
"The anointed has come!"
We set out,
arrived in this Kingdom a moment or a lifetime ago.
We have journeyed from continents apart,
tundra, tropics, poverty, privilege,
energy, exhaustion, giddiness, grief.
Through some miracle,
the Messiah has brought us together.

We are all refugees with nothing of worth to bring-
no gold, frankincense, or myrrh.
We have no drum to play.
The gifts sa tried to carry,
our best doctrines, rules, and dogmas,
slip like air through our fingers.
We cup our hands, offering offer nothing.

Come stranger,
we have found our home.
The song that welcomes us here
are not the songs of angels
(who harmonize in a different realm)
but the hum of God's grace and love
which we intone in messy unison.

In this Kingdom,
no one who journeys to the Christ is unworthy of alien.
In this Kingdom,
We are companions
standing close as the wind howls