Proverbs 4: 20-27

Proverbs 4: 1-19

On wisdom: "Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit and not a vegetable; wisdom is to know not to put it in a fruit salad." Daily Bread, Scripture Union

Jody Clarke, AST on being a good student: Pay attention, ask questions, play well with others.

Wisdom comes from listening to the quiet, calm voice of God and hearing over the din of human "advice", demands and "knowledge".

Knowledge is information; knowing is wisdom.

Psalm 38

This psalm is a lament of despair. A cry for help from the space of human anguish.

It is an interesting contrast from the previous psalm that is written from an observers point of view to encourage righteousness.

Psalm 38 is in the first person, written in the experience of total despair with a sense that only God can help me now, all others have forsaken me.

Psalm 37: Part 2

This psalm is about the separation of righteous and unrighteous - its constant message is that God will watch over the righteous and the unrighteous, the evil doers, will be struck down.

The subtext could be "be good and God will love you; be bad and you'll be in all kinds of trouble."

In the context of a modern world view it can be interpreted as "follow the rules even if it feels unfair because others seem to benefit when you don't."

The message that the overarching, governing entity we call God will judge in the end, and those found wanting will be cast aside, is a common religious theme and the cause, I believe, of much stress and distress. ironically. it is usually the "good" who stress over it!

Surely the message of the scriptures is that God is Love. God loves everyone unconditionally and especially God loves sinners. It is a very human, 3D way of describing God, but such are the limitations of living incarnate beings!

If we live in "right-relationship" with God, with creation, with our fellow humans then we will be at peace and the outcome will be for us to behave in the manner we call "good" or "righteous".

If we are at odds with the world, we will not be at peace. God still supports, carries and loves us.

Heaven as peace of mind here on earth is a far more powerfully compelling concept for me than a nirvana to be striven for all our lives and attained on death if we "got it right".

Psalm 37: Part 1

"Every day the Lord watches over those who are without blame."

Every day the Lord watches over everyone!!!

Psalm 36

This psalm speaks of people who live of the light and people who live of the dark. It acknowledges that both exist and in reality each of is is probably on a continuum, somewhere between two extremes.

The psalm is a prayer of supplication - please help me stay in the light.

It is interesting to read various translations of this psalm and notice the subtle shifts in implication. The newer translations suggest more of a hopelessness and "wrongness" of the dark. The older translations present this psalm more as a statement of what is, rather than judgement and permanence of the "badness" in people.

Evening reflection: June 13, 2008

Teaching of Jesus: What Jesus said and what Jesus modelled or demonstrated. "Do what I say or do what I do?" or both of course; but what is recorded as the teachings of Jesus?

Psalm 35

Walking around the garden early this morning, I realised how steadily and predictably creation works. Sometimes it seems to be at a slow pace and sometimes at a fast pace, but always moving inexorably to its designed purpose.

Creation interacts - there are volunteer lettuces and poppies from last year, there are the efforts I have made - digging over the soil, adding the compost and planting flowers and vegetables, there are the slugs - munching away at the marigolds; but within it all there is an order, a purpose - nothing is without purpose. We are all part of te web of creation.

"Fight those who fight me, O Lord,
attack those who are attacking me.
Take up shield and armour,
and rise up to help me...
... say to my soul, "I am your salvation."

Is the imprecating prayer about calling for vengeance on external enemies?

When I read it, I have the sense of someone embarking on an inner journey and asking for protection from that that is of the dark.

Evening reflection: June 12, 2008

What is the effect on me if I pray someone else's prayer? A prayer is born of deep personal space.

Each Sunday during the service someone reads the Prayers of the People. The form of the prayer is taken from the official service book (BAS), the actual prayer is written by the minister and read by the lay reader on my behalf, and I respond (usually - Lord hear my prayer). How do I make these prayers mine when they have gone through so many structural iterations to come into being?

How do I make the prayer of the Psalms mine?

In our home church we have time for silent prayer and spontaneous reflection, allowing each person time and space to express their needs, joys, desires and upsets either silently to themselves and God or out loud.

Psalm 34

It occurred to me that I had been reflecting on the Psalms using the same approach as with texts, yet the Psalms are songs of praise, they are prayers, so why not simply pray them!

"Evil shall slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be punished."

People who do not live in right-relationship with God will surely be "punished" from the inside, living in torment. But who is to say what is right-relationship except God and the individual?

Evening reflection: June 11, 2008

The awesome wonder of God is evident in all the little things around us. It is in the details and the minutiae of life.

Psalm 33

"Let all who dwell in the world stand in awe of him."

In a conversation once, someone said to me that if they were in the presence of Jesus, they would probably fall to their knees in awe and wonder, overwhelmed by such a presence.

It has long been my contention that in the presence of God, one would be inspired to greatness in response to the total unconditional love that emanated. One would be empowered because of the complete and utter belief that God has in each of us and our wholeness.

Note to self: what is the root of the word that is translated so often as "fear" in the Bible - as in "fear of the Lord."

Evening reflection: June 10, 2008

We are loved and protected; we simply need to pray.

Psalm 32

"Even if great floods overflow, they will never reach your faithful."

Overwhelmed? Sinful? Guilty? The floods of these emotions will not drown you if you pray.

We are commanded to love our neighbour as ourselves. I suspect most people find it easier to judge themselves and judge their neighbours than to love themselves.

God loves us just exactly as we are.

Evening reflection: June 9, 2008

Journeying, Visioning and meditating take us to the Kingdom of God.

God is so much bigger than anything we could possibly ever do to this creation. Our job is to dare to be totally and fully who we are!

Luke 9:28-56

The Transfiguration:

"This is my Son, the chosen one. Listen to him."

Peter, John and James have gone up the mountain with Jesus several days after he told them he is going to die.

They see a vision of Jesus, glowing - transfigured - talking to Moses and Elijah.

Here we have another explanation of seeing the Kingdom of God before death. Through journeying, as the shamans would describe it, or visioning, one experiences divine revelations.

The disciples hear a voice saying, "This is my Son, the chosen one. Listen to him."

"My Son, the chosen one" is elsewhere expressed as "Beloved, son of man." The expression "son of man" is used to mean "one of the genre of Man."

Was God telling Peter, John and James that they were beloved sons of man and they should listen to themselves - to their inner voice, or "higher selves"?

Journeying, visioning or meditating can take us closer to the Kingdom of God to gain insights for our life on earth.

Evening reflection: June 8, 2008

"I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Kingdom of God."

Living one's life's purpose, creating heaven on earth happens in the details, in the response to relationships - especially in the upsets; it happens in spontaneous connections with people - it happens when I pay attention, ask questions and play well with others (thank you Jody!) It happens in expressions of appreciation.

Luke 9:18-27

There are four sections to this passage.

1. Jesus asks his apostles who they think he is.

2. Jesus foretells his passion.

3. Jesus says that people who follow him must renounce themselves and take up their cross.

4. Jesus says, "I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Kingdom of God."

When I hear the phrase "take up your cross each day...", I hear a burdensome task - something that is difficult and I think "why would I do that?"

I wonder how many others hear "take up your cross" as something negative and believe that following Jesus is difficult and means giving up an easy and comfortable life?

I believe that one's cross is one's life's purpose and the invitation is to pick it up each day and live intentionally. I also believe that when one follows God's plan and gives the world of one's gifts and talents then there are people in this world ready to receive them. It is not a burden, but a joy and an easeful and flowing life ensues. There may be difficulties and difficult times, but solutions to problems present themselves in prayer.

Carrying one's cross may not be easy, but it is not a burden. Often, though not always, the journey requires one to go against the norms of one's cultural circles and face criticism and resistance, as Jesus did.

When I first read the verse "I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Kingdom of God" I was completely unknowing as to what it could mean. And then it came to me as a blinding glimpse of the obvious - the Kingdom of God (i.e. heaven) is here on earth, in this life, if we choose to take up our cross and follow our life's purpose!

Evening reflection: June 7, 2008

Being a modern day evangelist and miracle worker.

Often when we talk about healing, we associate it with curing someone who is sick, or restoring land or nature.

As I was gardening today, it occurred to me that healing can be about claiming something to its rightful purpose. I am honoured to have been offered the use of an allotment across the street. This is indeed a gift, ot use this piece of land as it has been used for several years and to be able to give of the produce to those who in the past have been able to cultivate it for themselves and have always been generous with the abundance.

Evangelism and miracle working is in the everyday decisions and even in the acceptance of gifts. Thank you neighbours; thank you God.

Luke 9:10-17

Today's story is the miracle of the five loaves and two fishes.

"But the crowd got to know and they went after him."

"...and when the scraps left over were collected. they filled twelve baskets."

In quiet Christian circles people do not follow the priest to listen to what s/he has to say. In fact many churches or congregations will describe themselves as mission-led rather than priest-led. In these circles, preachers such as Jesse Jackson, Oral Roberts, Jim and Tammy Bakker, Billy Graham, Carlton Pearson, Berti Britts, etc. are frowned upon because they are commanding a great following - filling large tents wherever they go, preaching and performing miracles. They are being like Jesus. How dare they?

Surely they dare because isn't it exactly what Jesus told us to do? "All this you will do and more..."

In demure Christian churches this is seen as aggrandizement.

I believe that we must be vigilant to distinguish between our ego self taking on the role of creating hero-worship and our higher self following God's plan for us.

I have heard contemporary interpretations of the feeding of the 5000 that make it more palatable to our understanding of the way the world works. When we make it more acceptable, by saying things such as that the real miracle was getting all these people to share what little they felt they had, don't we make God small? How can we believe that we can perform miracles if we water down Jesus' miracles?

How do we become contemporary evangelists? 21st century Jesus's? How come scripture has been frozen in time? Imagine a university course that used the same text for 20 years, let alone 1800! The professor would be quietly retired as being out of date.

Reality is that scripture has been updated. More documents and writings have been discovered. Yet traditional churches seem to have a great deal of trouble incorporating these texts into their life of prayer, worship, study and evangelism.

New documents are being written, such as A Course in Miracles, Conversations with God and the Gospel of Inclusion, but where are these discussed in modern churches? They are discussed in the home churches, the private churches, the independent churches. The established churches wonder why they are losing members - or rather not attracting new members - well look at your book list - it's had the same one - the only one - on it for 1800 years!!

There are so many texts - even many traditional texts; the Qur'an, the Zohar, Book of Mormon, Rig Veda - it would be awesome to compile a list of all the "sacred writing" ancient and modern.

Jesus gave us a tradition - or rather, we chose to make a tradition our of Jesus! Let us not get so wrapped up in the tradition that we lose Jesus!

The more we truly understand the authentic Jesus, the more we can be contemporary evangelists. Not just spreading Jesus' message, but being a modern Jesus, spreading today's message. The essence of the message hasn't changed, but the context and the circumstances and the need have.

Evening reflection: June 6, 2008

The message today was about accepting my responsibility as a healer and a miracle worker.

This morning a yellow butterfly was flitting along the ground. I call them "Yellow Admirals" because they are like Red admirals, but with intense yellow between the black - I have no idea what their "proper" name is! This one seemed to be struggling a bit as it almost landed on the gravel of the parking lot and flapped its wings to "limp" along. I was talking to Sarah at the time, we had slowed and stopped walking as she thought the car we had reached was mine; I had stopped to watch the butterfly. As we walked on I sent it Reiki; Sarah and I stopped again at the corner to finish our conversation before going in different directions. Walking on again, I passed the Save Easy across the bay from where I had seen the butterfly - and there it was floating by me, pausing just long enough for me to notice!

One way I refuel and absorb my energy to live God's will is through being in sacred space. The concert this evening in St. Stephen's empowered me through engaging music, outstanding musicianship and the energy of a sacred location.

My personal health challenge is presenting itself through my aching hip. This is not the first time I have experienced this. Years ago I saw the doctor about aching joints in my fingers and tests revealed there was nothing wrong. Now, when I drink commercial red wine I feel the aches in my fingers, wrists, ankles and hip. Once I clear the toxins from my body the aches go away; but this time the ache in my hip is persisting and I know I am being called upon to heal myself more intentionally. My eye is also giving me notice and this one I feel I should refer to the doctor.

So as healer and miracle worker, I must first (or also) heal myself.

Luke 9:1-9

"He gave them power and authority over all devils and to cure diseases."

In many Christian churches much is talked about apostolic succession - the priests of the church can trace the lineage of their initiation (ordination) back to Jesus through the apostles.

Ordination is a sacrament. A sacrament is an outward and visible sign of an inward God-given Grace.

Luke 9:1 clearly states that included in the power and authority that ordination confers upon a priest is the ability to heal.

I believe that we all have the power and authority from God to perform miracles, whether or not we are priests. But as priests we are undertaking to use this powers and accept this authority.

Evening reflection: June 5, 2008

The first message in the scripture this morning was that whatever one's journey, one's purpose in life, it is good to have a home base where one's friends, family and community are a support - a place where one is known and appreciated for one's talents and gifts. Then one can go out into the world and make changes elsewhere and bring about transformation.

The second message was that one must take responsibility for one's own healing. I will be healed when I accept to be healed.

How have these messages played out during today?

A sense of home-base for me today has been to do with planting the garden and establishing its identity as ours. It has to do with the comfort and relationship with Jo and Richard, Kris and Sue, and neighbours who stop and talk and accept us for who we are.



And where does Sarah fit in with this? She who is as far on the edge as we would wish to be, at peace and ease with our ways - why does her move to the corner house disturb us so? Larry and Christine however, turning up on the road in front of us to buy beer kits, pay for them in exchange for us helping them to make beer at their farm on Sunday, fill us with joy and ease.

I feel it has to do with living in the world while not being of the world. The ability to see the earthly reality for what it is and to accept it and our part in it. It is about accepting our responsibility to be true to ourselves while honouring others wherever they are on their path. No path is right or wrong, or better or worse. My path is my path, nothing more, nothing less. In my life I choose to walk a path with and to God - or at least to try to!

Luke 8:40-56

There are two miracles described in this passage: one of the woman touching the hem of Jesus' robe and being healed; the other of raising Jairus' daughter.

The first phrase that caught my attention in this passage was the first phrase "On his return Jesus..." or "When Jesus returned..." depending which version you read.

In the previous verses Jesus had been in Garesene and was asked to leave. Whether or not we assume chronological flow here, "on his return" implies Jesus had a home base; the synagogue there would be his place of regular worship and he would be known. He was coming back home to the place where people knew and trusted him. Around him the paradigm had already shifted - it was accepted that he healed the sick; he was a master who taught and practised wisdom. Even so, when he raised Jairus' daughter, he did so in private and asked her parents to keep quiet about what he had done.

The other part of this passage that is important for me today is when Jesus says to the woman who touched his hem, your faith has saved you, go in peace." Jesus doesn't go around healing people because he thinks they should be healed ro to provide a spectacle for the crowd. Jesus asks the important question, "do you want to be healed?"

Being healed may not happen in the way that we expect, but however it happens, it happens in deep contract and commitment with our inner selves, the God within. When we are ready and willing to commit to that contract then healing happens.

It is easy to hand over the responsibility to Jesus or God to heal me and then blame God when I do not heal as I wanted. But when I take responsibility for my healing, then I call on the mystery of God to participate. I am also able to to recognize that I too can be a healing conduit, just as Jesus was, for others who are ready and willing to heal.

As an incarnate being I may enhance my healing skills in practical ways by learning Reiki or Therapeutic Touch, massage or aromatherapy; I may gain knowledge in healing herbs, medicinal plants and healthy foods; I could train in acupressure or acupuncture, I could be a registered medical doctor.

Whatever my earthly skills, there is still a question I need to ask - "do you want to be healed?" and a request "please God heal through me for the highest good."

I am trained in the healing modalities of Reiki, acupressure, Hawaiian massage and NeuroLinguistic Programming.

Luke 8:26-39

I am not quite making my goal of writing everyday, but I will get there! I am following the daily devotional from Scripture Union which I receive via email each morning.

Today's scripture is the story of Jesus calming the storm and driving out the demons from the mad man.

My initial thoughts on this are about the "big picture" ramifications of Jesus' actions. The story tells us that Jesus drove the demons out of the man into the swine and the swineherd look on with amazement as their pigs rush to the lake and drown themselves.

What are we to make of this? Are the pigs less worthy than the man that they may be killed by the demons in order to save the man? Is the man and his life more important than the swineherd whose livelihood has just been lost? Has Jesus not heard of systems thinking?

At this point I am reminded of discussions about exegesis and eisogesis - are we drawing meaning out of the text or reading meaning into the text and how do we know?

I feel that the message here is about people's reaction to Jesus rather than his actions and miracles themselves.

The apparent power of Jesus' abilities engenders fear in people; they do not understand and feel out of control. Is it human nature to try and regain that control even with the illusion of sending the "offender" away? In society we marginalize people who do not fit in with social norms; we show little compassion or understanding and rarely see that there is anything for us to learn from them.

WWJD? It has been a long time since I have seen one of the bracelets announcing this question, but I think it is a good way to make decisions about how we treat people. What would Jesus do?

Luke 8:1-15

This is the parable of the farmer and the seed.

The more I study about scripture, the more I understand and read into the words and stories when I read scripture.

It is so easy to take the lessons at face value. If scripture truly holds essential messages for life then it must reveal a deeper truth than that which is evident on the surface. Face value is reading it through the eyes and understanding we already have, yet God and creation is far greater than we can think or imagine. As I become more aware, more open to the possibilities, more will be revealed. Scripture's message will change every time I read it.

There are two important aspects to this passage. One is the parable and its meaning, the other is the purpose for speaking in parables.

A possible interpretation of the parable is that when seed falls on all ground, it grows where it is appropriate for that seed to grow. Just as there are seeds for wet soil, others for dry soil or sandy soil, so the word of God is passed down to us in ways that we can hear. Some are Christians, some are Muslims, Hindus or Atheists - the message is still there and there is a seed, a word for that soil.

Parables allow people to hear according to their readiness - some hear a story, others a metaphor and others find deep esoteric meaning.

On reading this scripture story in the Gospel of Thomas, I began to realize the deep philosophical thought that is needed to interpret much of the Word. Is that why the simpler writings were mostly chosen to compile the Bible? Are we now in an age when more are ready and able to hear the deeper meanings? Is that why they have been hidden until recently?

Creation is too great to be contained in one static book.

One way to read the parable is through the interpretation given by the writer of Luke's Gospel.