If, according to Gallup polls, and the Pew Research Center, about 70% of Americans identify as Christians, mirroring the students in my class, then why are so many of us lonely?
I am loved by God for all that I am created to be, without exception. In today’s gospel Jesus is saying he did not come for those who are so righteous they stand in judgement of their fellow human beings — he came for all of us who need spiritual healing, comfort, and restorative guidance — and at some point in this life that is every one of us.
“The song is ‘Lead me, Guide me’- In asking to be led, and guided we must have trust and have hope in the guide who is bringing us to a place with which we are unfamiliar yet we believe our divine Leader knows what and where is safe refuge and the best place for us to be spiritually, physically and emotionally.”
“Miriam as big sister acts almost like Shekinah, the Hebrew word for the feminine in-dwelling of God, or the Holy Spirit. She watches over Moses as an infant, through and out of Egypt, and into the desert.”
“If God is transcendent, there must also be something with us, in us, and around us that comforts, guides, and motivates. The Divine Feminine is that relational thread.”
“Ask yourself: What is my gift, knowledge, access, opportunity, privilege, connections, influence, or resources that I can lend to the cause of goodness, decency, and justice? Who can I call, boycott, or support? Where can I donate my time, talent, and money?”
“What does it mean for you to ABOUND in hope? Not a strip of hope, not a small piece of hope, not faking hope but overflowing, spilling over with, being filled with a brilliant testimony of hope. Advent hope is not quiet; it is contagious.”
These beatitudes from today’s gospel in Luke are more real, tangible and down to earth as they focus on real life issues of being poor, hungry, or deeply saddened by life. It is interesting that we never make beautiful posters, carvings or artwork out of the corresponding Woes, or what some call curses, found in Luke which come right after the beautiful often-quoted Blesseds.
Stillness comes with wisdom and age. It is in the later chapters of life you may come to realize you hear more and learn more when you make space and time for quiet stillness. In that place you can hear the soft voice of the Holy Spirit and what it has to reveal to you.
“I think parts of the great Dr. Rev Martin Luther King Jr.’s story never get told, and the story of his famous last speech is just as inspirational and mystical as the content of the speech itself.”
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