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Transparency

“In the end the problem of sincerity is a problem of love. A sincere man is not so much one who sees the truth and manifests it as he sees it, but one who loves the truth with pure love. But truth is more than an abstraction. It lives and is embodied in men and things that are real. And the secret of sincerity is, therefore, not to be sought in a philosophical love for abstract truth, but in a love for real people and real things…” ~Thomas Merton

Looking for loopholes?

Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest?
All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.  (Isaiah 66)

A new day is dawning.

Why are you hurting?
A new day is dawning.
Lift up your hearts.
Put aside the fears and the failures.
Lift up your hearts,
to the healer of all hurt, pain and affliction.
It's not what you feel in this moment.
It's all in His hands, He has been there before.
His love makes us whole with each new dawn.
One more day to get it right.
Lift up your hearts, a new day is dawning.

~Abiah+

Worship and Praise

In Revelation 7:9-17 we read of an incredible gathering of heavenly beings. The gathering is punctuated by loud cries, angels falling on their faces while multitudes sing night and day without ceasing. This scene takes place in heaven where the author of Revelation has been transported, a vision into the realm of heaven. The Lamb which was slain is now a shepherd who graciously cares for the whole redeemed population. This reading is a window into heavenly worship. A gathering of people from every nation, every race, every tongue shouting: "Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!" As we worship, offer our prayers and receive the Word, our hearts are united with the saints of all ages.Authentic worship is the heartbeat of heaven.
~Abiah+




The Mundane and The Sacred

I think

 nothing human

 is foreign to the spirit.

I think

the Spirit embaces all.

My mundane experiences

seem to contain all the stuff of holiness.

and of my human growth

in the Spirit.

My encounters with others

are opportunities

for awakening and energizing me

in the Spirit.

And yet

so much goes unoticed.

So often I fail to notice the light

that shines through the dusty panes

of my daily life.

I am oft too busy

to name an event

that is Blessed in its ordinariness,

Holy in its uniqueness,

and

Grace-filled in its challenge.

Wake up, John!

Be open

be aware

be alive.

~ John Chuchman
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002BLJKAW

Spirituality

The single most important thing to understand in spiritual theology is that it is not about theology, not a body of information gathered in the classroom and from books; it is a cultivated disposition to live theology, to live everything that God reveals to us in Scripture and in Christ Jesus and then live it in the neighborhood, our global neighborhood. Most of us know far more about God than we actually live in obedience.

Refugees

"We need to commit ourselves to assist the refugees from Zimbabwe... remembering that the one we call our Lord and Saviour was a refugee in Egypt, fleeing the Mugabe of that period, King Herod".
~Bishop Joe Seoka

Divisions and Humility

Jealousy, prejudice, envy, pride, slander, hate, passive-agressive behavior, not one is an acceptable norm for the Christian. It is a hardened heart. It is heart disease and, as Christians we have a decision to make. Will this disease be transient, operable or terminal? For Christians the ground before the cross remains level. Humility will enable us to share a common goal despite our differences. Humility will enable us to work together and see things through. Humility will hold us up on the days we are very, very down so that resting in the security of each other as Christ on earth we can stumble and fall knowing we will be caught. For the sake of our broken world we must be the humility of Christ and pray from the depth of our being "May they be one in us, as you are in me and I am in you who sent me". (John 17:21).Only then will the world believe that the Father sent us. 
~Abiah+