4 MARCH
Give up making
excuses for not
going to church.
It’s Sunday . . . just go!
excuses for not
going to church.
It’s Sunday . . . just go!
To paraphrase Jarrid Wilson...... church/prayer/circle/temple/chapel/synagogue/.........is not WHERE or WHEN you are but WHO you are!!
So what did you do today to make a change? To better yourself? To helps others??? No I'm not asking because today is a Sunday, I'm asking because its a day that ends in "Y". You see, here's the thing...for me, I was taught and have always believed going to church or a spiritual gathering is about becoming a stronger and better person through each other. Not better than someone else, but better than the person YOU were before you went to the gathering.
One of my all time favorite bible scriptures is:
21st Century King James Version
20For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them."
-Matt 18:20
The thing that I find most pleasing about this is that this does not say this must happen in a church building, with church people, or even on a Sunday. The implication is that people sharing a spiritual time are blessed. A very early translation of the bible takes the scripture further and includes a person whose heart and soul in solitude seeks the Divine, can also achieve this blessing.
So much of what this Lenten study/calender for me has been leading up to what a friend calls "spiritual spring cleaning". Getting rid of the old ideas and beliefs that no longer fit or feel true to make room for more spiritual growth and allowing the Divine to lead us.
Thoughts become words. Words become actions. Actions become habits. Habits become character. And character becomes your destiny.
Unknown
How often have we found ourselves, even in the midst of fighting for our freedoms from the Christian right, shackled to the idea of "well, that's what THEY taught us". Did God/dess NOT give us our own brain and heart in order to study, learn, reflect, and grow? I'm not saying throw everything out. I'm saying in being spiritual, should we not allow ourselves the opportunity to grow?
What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: Our life is the creation of our mind.
Buddha
Taking this quote from Buddha into our hearts, it allows us to imagine a life as a heaven on earth. If we can imagine it, we can create it. Its just a matter of power of the heart and soul.
The late Michael Jackson shared his thoughts with us in the song "Man in the Mirror". Listen to the song, absorb the words, and ask yourself do you have the strength to ask the man in the mirror to change, but to look that same man in the mirror and say "I've been the best me I can be today, I've created change and peacefulness."
5 MARCH
Invite someone to
church. Tell them what
Lent means to you,
and why this might be
a meaningful time for
them to sit next to you
in worship. Please wear
deodorant.
Invite someone to
church. Tell them what
Lent means to you,
and why this might be
a meaningful time for
them to sit next to you
in worship. Please wear
deodorant.
Remember what I've said in the last couple of posts about church/spiritual gatherings not necessarily being about a building? Do you have the self confidence in yourself and your beliefs NOT to evangelize in words, but in your actions?
2 comments:
Love that question you left us with, Carrie!!! I think it does take a lot of confidence to live out our beliefs rather than talk about them. As a matter of fact, there is a fairly large body of psychological research to support the fact that the harder people try to persuade others of something, the more likely they are to be harboring some doubt themselves. the more convinced you are, the less you feel a compelling need to win others to your position.
It is as St. Francis said, "Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary."
Something to thing about think about for tomorrow's "challenge" huh?? I adore that quote from St Francis and it will probably get used in writing tomorrow. Your talking about the study of the more you persuade is some thing I often think about. I would love a good quote etc., for that....I always end up thinking of The quotation "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." from Shakespeare's Hamlet It's the opposite but still...
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