Dating a Minister

Has it's own challenges when it comes to making plans. I wouldn't change it for the world, but seriously... can we be anonymous anywhere around town?

That's all I'm going to say about that.

Peace Within Ourselves

Thomas Merton said:

There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence that is activism and overwork....The rush and pressure of modern life are a form of violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence. The frenzy of our activism neutralizes our work for peace. It destroys our inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of our own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.

To quote Buddha:

If your compassion does not include yourself, then it is incomplete.

To have peace in the world seems like such a daunting task. How can we save the world? Can we build new churches? Send out new missionaries? Donate more? Consume less? While I think all of those things have a place, the place most overlooked is our own souls.

The stillness that our souls desire and feed off of, is chased away by our need to be doing something.

Can we bring peace to our households if we can not even play a game with our children without checking the blackberry? How many of us don't have time for silly board games when there are activities every night? If we are running non-stop, then how are we teaching our children to find their center, their stillness?

In our frenzy to lead complete lives, are we remembering the basic tenants of sharing? We can not share something that we do not posses ourselves.

If we are not bringing peace into our households, then is it possible, we are bringing in the type of violence that Merton speaks of?

If we can not find a peace and stillness within ourselves, then how will we teach our children?

If our children are not taught this at home, how will they go into the world and share peace and Light?

If our children are not centered, then how are they teaching others their light from within? They can't. If we are not spreading that peace and light from within, then aren't we doing our Lord a disservice by keeping it in ourselves?

“If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace.” ~ john lenon

Finding Peace in Our Lives.

Last night I read from Being Peace and the following passage jumped out at me:

There is a Zen story about a man who is riding a horse that is galloping very quickly. Another man, standing alongside the road, yells at him, “Where are you going?” And the man on the horse yells back, “I don’t know, ask the horse!” I think that is our situation. We are riding many horses that we cannot control. (Thich Nhat Hanh, Being Peace, Parallax Press, Berkeley, CA, 1987)

I think sometimes in our lives we allow things to lead us, until we're unable to control the direction life is leading us. I think this story can speak to many on multiple levels.

It would be nice to wake up tomorrow and know where I am leading my horses rather than wondering where my horses will lead me.

Lord means "master", not mascot.

I moderate a Mormon Debate Board on beliefnet in my "free" time (which really means I sneak in/out during the day while at work).

It's a very active board with some interesting topics. Today, someone made the comment:

"I'm always astounded by those who think the main/only point of the Gospel is to get into heaven."

I agree with the said poster.

As a Christian, I find myself CONSTANTLY embarrassed by those who I feel have hijacked the religion. Maybe some of those have never READ the Bible, they are just looking at the cliff notes they get in a 15-25 min sermon on Sundays or trying to remember Sunday School lessons from years (*cough*3rd grade*cough*) ago. So, along that line.... SELFISH CHRISTIANS bother me even more. In fact, you can't be selfish AND be a Christian. (Study the New Testament, you'll see what I mean)

I have HUGE problems with heaven/hell centered preaching.

First of all, the preoccupation with salvation/afterlife I think causes some to devalue other things in THIS life. The importance of death is lifted up so high, the life before our mortal death is trivialized, causing many to forget to love thy neighbor. Remember that? One of the two GREATEST commandments?

Secondly, since when is Jesus only about personal salvation? Your friendly buddy Christ? Seriously, get over yourself. In a self-centered (how am I getting to heaven) and hell-centered (I am only doing these things to prevent myself from going to hell) salvation, doesn't the teaching of Jesus just get reduced to a quick means to get to Heaven? We want to do it as painlessly as possible too.

Third, if you're so focused on self-salvation through your gospel, are you starting to lose focus that Jesus was the Savior and Lord of the world? Someone said to me once, Lord means "master", not mascot. I can't agree more. Before you argue with me, take a moment to think about that statement.

Personally, I shake my head at most Christians (which, now I'm sinning because admitedly, I'm being judgmental. Don't worry, I have no doubt that will be dealt with later.).

We've dumbed down Jesus to Buddy Christ sitting there next to us watching tv, enjoying our golden ticket into heaven. The oompa loompas of life, er, I mean angels and messengers are just there to guide us through this icky time where we just wait it out until we get "there". I mean, it's about the destination, not the journey, right? (read: sarcasm).

The 10 Worst Movies About Jesus

The 10 Worst Movies About Jesus (Not Counting The Passion of the Christ Because That Would Be Too Easy)

http://www.wittenburgdoor.com/10-worst-movies-about-jesus