Month: November 2023

Psalm 145 says that the “Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is good to all and his compassion is over all he has made.” This is very clear and rather simple…God is a loving God.

Why does the Church insist on presenting a God that is about fear, punishment, and retribution? This is the opposite of grace and love. And why do we go along with a church that excludes anyone from God’s love? This is at the heart of the gospel….Love.

It is clear that we have a rift in the whole of Christianity and it needs to be repaired. We are called by Jesus himself to love and live out that love in how we treat ourselves and each other. And yet the Church in general insists on a punishing God. A God who waits for us to sin or a God that sees us as utterly depraved (to quote an old Presbyterian belief, the gift of John Calvin).

This sort of view teaches that if we were not so evil, Christ would not have had to die. Richard Rohr is right, Jesus was never Plan B. Jesus was always plan A…to live a life of love and service to others. A monastic priest I heard recently asked why people continuously need to confess? He said that if we really have been forgiven, there is no need for continuously confessing. Instead we should live out the example of Jesus, to be and live love. And added, “so why don’t we?”

It is hard to argue with the priest’s reasoning. Even more so when you learn he was a Theologian in his previous life before the monastery. He has the best point….why don’t we live out the love we are called to? The answer seems painfully obvious, because it is hard! And it can get you killed. Let’s strive for the narrow path of love.

TMM

We live in the electronic world of auto-renewals. For this site, as an example, I just had to update the payment source. No big deal, we are all familiar with the process and this site will continue be around. But this got me to thinking, is our faith on auto renewal as well?

If we just keep tithing will the Church just keep renewing our membership? If we just keep going to church and saying our prayers will God “renew” our membership? Has our faith become so easy that we just expect it to automatically renew?

It is far to easy to take our faith for granted and expect it to just renew on its own. An entire denomination did this very thing, just kept auto-renewing and it led to the very painful process called disaffiliation. And I have watched good people get terribly hurt by the results.

Today was a “wake-up” call for me to get my account up to date. These days for that denomination are the wake up call to get things updated. The call to be awake, aware, and active. I have come to see and believe that these wake up calls are a necessary blessing.

Starting today The Messy Mystic is renewed. Perhaps today we should all update our information and be renewed. No, I don’t think the Sacred needs our updated credit card information. I do think she needs our updated faith and commitment to being who we are called to be in Christ. So what do you say? Will you renew your faith?

TMM

Our world today is anything but peaceful. Wars rage, politics are cut throat, and even individuals are angry over small disagreements. It would seem to be a lost world, but it isn’t a lost world. It is the world as it has always been, a place of clashes of power, with the least fortunate suffering the most.

As a contemplative my call is to another path. It isn’t an easy path but then the path of peace never is, just ask Jesus. In scary times we are called to the narrow path of peace. As Sr. Joan Chittister points out…”truth is that only one thing can really bring peace: the commitment not to destroy other people’s sense of self, of dignity, of value in the name of truth.”

We must wake up. If we choose the name of Christian then we must get on or return to the path of peace. We must be brave enough to not demand our own way and to seek peace with those who may need it the most. Even with those who do not see their own need for peace.

This path is narrow and difficult because we must maintain our own interior peace while others would take it from us. We must be that voice of peace and dignity and worth for those who have lost their voices or who have never had a voice.

TMM

As a contemplative person, I am called to be in the world. That means being in the moment with the world and with others and it is a struggle. Over the past few years and due to a variety of reasons I have just felt down.

it dawned on me why a few days ago. I am feeling the world’s pain. No I am not someone special but I am truly a contemplative person. That means to fully engage with the world. But it also means I have to choose my response to the world. In a book by Matthew Kelly, I have reminders that telly me I can choose how I see events and that I can turn them into Holy Moments.

it is not our choice as to what happens in the world. It is our choice as to how we respond. I am thinking that I can be a better person by using love as my filter. I cannot fix this world but I can choose how to see it and deal with it. I think that means that I will look for hope in the face of pain and fear. I will choose my response and not let the world tell me what will feel.

TMM