Creation Calls -- are you listening? Music by Brian Doerksen

 

A gorgeous prayer shared with us from Thaddeus.

Thank you Thaddeus ..... I am in awe too!

www.briandoerksen.com

Power of Love is revealed today

The heavy darkness, laden with guilt, worry, self recrimination, hatred and jealousy, feuding and thieving,  dispersed as the last blast of our collective winter of the soul steamed out of town.  

Softly replacing it, singing sweetly as the robin in the apple tree, was something else, something refreshing, uplifting and freeing, bright and beautiful.  

This new life, this newfound joy was and is what God always wanted for us, but who could roll the stone of the tomb away which shrouded our hearts and minds and eyes from God's truth?  Who would and could do that?  

Only the power of God's truth, which is the love in this new day, could.  Only the power of God that shines out to us as acceptance, surrender to life and to God, non-violence and the strength and courage to stand before those dark lumbering demons who stalked our collective night.  

Only the courage of one to stand up to the many without a single word of self defense, but with the wisdom and the power of knowing that nothing in this world can deter the love of God to preserve him and all of us from the illusionary nightmares we once thought were real.

It seems as if the angel of truth and of love whispers to the whole world this morning, 

"Yes, he is risen, and now so are you.  Join in the great celebration, in the great song of life and embrace each other with love.  And never forget and never slip back.  You are new again and you are free.  The bondage of oppressors, of malevolent dictators, of heavy greed and power-based corporations and governments has been slain.  If you can walk each moment and each hour and each day and each year of this new vision, your world will wake up out of its nightmare.  Each one of you who can grasp this truth and live heartily into it, will see that day."

And until that day, he has left his peace with us. His peace will carry us forward on this magnificent journey of life, together, and in love, forever. 

Alleluia!

The innocent love of defenselessness

On the drive to work this morning,  I found myself reflecting on the sheer gentleness Jesus must have radiated, the pure love and innocence he must have exuded.  

I was struck by the thought that we all on some level have been infected by the "pursuit of power" virus that controls the world and our lives - even those of us who live, work and strive for peace - in our hearts and in our world; even those of us who want to be fully drenched with heavenly love, even those of us who have turned away from the ways of our world. 

Maybe we are all infected by that power-control virus that has seduced us, lured us into its den of vipers where we feel incompetent, unlovable, simply not good enough.  As a result of feeling that way, we've learned how to put on armor and we check each other out to see if our armor is as good as an other's and they do the same thing to us.  With our armor  on we feel powerful, acceptable, good enough, even pretty good and yet we're as phony as every one else. Inside our armor, if we are honest, we feel isolated, lonely, unseen and unloved. 

While waiting at a red light, my windshield wipers sweeping away the tears from another Portland morning rain, I wondered what he might have been like in person.  Would he have had an edge, a wizened wit that could see right through you reducing you to feeling wholly inadequate?  Would he have had the vision to see all your faults and issues which might cause you to feel a bit embarrassed to be seen so clearly, spiritually naked?  I think we like to hide our fears and known faults. Would he have made us feel like a sinner, a bad person, incomplete somehow? Would he ask us to change in order to receive God's love?   I wondered if he would not have felt attractive to us as a person with a strong powerful personality who charismatically compels our misplaced respect?  I don't think so.  

I think his vision is so true that he would see all the way to our core where God's own self is united with ours. There, all we are is the beautiful light of God.  He would see who we really are, not what we have become in this twisted, distorted, broken mirror of life. He also would not see our armor or our pretense. He would be so gentle, so calming, so sweet yet truly sincere that we might not realize the power that he really held?  Would we not have loved him as much if we realized how innocent he truly is? We have been taught to value and respect the worldly power-wielding controllers, the tyrannical.  While we resist that, how deep is that programming?  

I thought how much we are all addicted to power-seeking and powerful people.  I don't mean we're really addicted to controlling manipulators, but we are all easily intimidated by those who feel somehow more powerful, more confident, more put together and we want to emulate them.  We want to dress like we're somebody.  We want to impress people with our skills, jobs, education, money, spouse or children.  We want to appear important.  We want to feel important and we want to feel influential and powerful.  I think we don't realize how much we do this and I think we do this because we don't know how much we really want to feel loved.  

One of my challenges to worldly success has been an inability to seem very powerful.  I just don't come across as powerful. I don't act or dress for success and quite frankly, I don't care.  Of course, I've paid the price for it, but isn't that price the price Jesus told us we would pay if we followed him?  Didn't he say that if the world despised him, they would despise his followers?   And yet, it seems that so many of us somehow feel like losers because we can't - or won't - fit into the way of the world, the power games that many people everywhere in the world, in every social structure, every country, every religion seem to subscribe to.  I think we may have forgotten that we are better off poor because then we don't fit into the power paradigm.  

By the time I got to work this morning, I'd had a stunning realization of what Jesus might have meant when he said "whatever we do to the least of these, your brethren, we do unto him."  It seems that he is telling us that he is as pure as those who cannot - or won't - fit into the power circles, or move among the beautiful people, the fashionable elite.  

I think his purity of heart would have been completely without that condescending attitude of one who would help another publicly so he would seem praiseworthy, more powerful, more important or so he could just feel better than another. Whatever we do to another reflects our own human honesty, our own innocence, our own defenselessness.  Do we see an other's pain or their joy, their beauty, their sweetness, their love?  Another person can feel what we're looking at in them.  If we judge them, they feel that judgment. They feel badly about themselves. If we appreciate them, they feel that too. They feel loved and accepted. 

As I made my way in the early morning, darkness still shrouding the parking lot, I realized that those who are infected by the power and control virus of our world, might not consider Jesus very important, or very impressive or even very powerful in person because he would not have had that self important person persona.  But, his love, oh his love - now that would have been palatable, I thought. He may feel like a kind gentlemen.  I wondered if we've all become so numb to that kind of truth and warmth in a human being, that kind of innocence and gentleness that we might misunderstand it as powerlessness rather than powerfulness? Would we think he was insignificant because he didn't judge us, he didn't call us sinners?  

What if he loved us instead of condemning and judging us? What if we felt that beautiful fluid peace of his love?  What if his love touched us in such a penetrating way that our lives were changed forever, healed of all the toxic insults hurled at us throughout our lives?  Then, I wondered, "Do we want to be loved or do we want to feel powerful?"  If we say we are liberated, spiritual freedom seekers, we might want to ask ourselves that question.  Do we want to feel loved or feel powerful?  Is power-seeking a poor substitute for love?

As I entered through the double glass doors, I smiled at the janitor with whom I share a word or two each morning in Spanish, and waved to the guy at the service desk and then punched in.  For the first time in a long time, I realized how blessed I was that I had the beautiful opportunity to work with those who are the "salt of the earth," as my mother would say,  none of whom are important nor do they think they should be and are so very lovable because of it.  

I felt for a moment that love was what I wanted to be about and in that love receive the lord's perfect peace and simplicity of being.  I took a deep breath, put on my apron and went to work.  Today I would serve a bit more love to everyone,  a love they would feel because each person I would meet today was sent to me by God to love.  Maybe that's what its all about really.  Maybe its all about loving each other innocently and opening our hearts to each other while risking our own sense of vulnerability.  Maybe that's all we have to do, despite how scary it might feel.

Ancient books uncovered in Jordan

These artifacts are among 70 ring-bound books, or codices, made of lead and copper that was part of a secret hoard of ancient sealed books found in Jordan.  (Photos by David Elkington)

(These tiny books are only the size of a credit card)
 

One of the largest and best-preserved collections of ancient sealed books has been discovered in a cave in Jordan and are believed to be some of the earliest Christian documents, according to the BBC.


The 70 tiny books could date back to the first century. Carbon dating tests found that a piece of leather found with the scrolls was over 2000 years old.


Experts say the books, made of lead and copper and bound by rings, may be more significant than the Dead Sea Scrolls, BBC reports.


The writing featured in the books is a form of archaic Hebrew script with ancient messianic symbols, mixed with some form of a code, according to a news release. The codices show notable references to symbols of the Feast of Tabernacle, and depict images of menorahs and fruiting palm trees.


The books are currently the subject of a dispute between authorities, archeologists and an Israeli Bedouin who acquired them from a Jordanian Bedouin and then smuggled the books into Israel and hid them, The Telegraph reports. Today their whereabouts remains a mystery. 


Authorities in Jordan want the books returned, since under Jordanian law, they are property of the Kingdom of Jordan, according to the news release.


Archeologists in Israel claim the books are forgeries, while British archeologists are committed to saving and studying the ancient scrolls.


"It is an enormous privilege to be able to reveal this discovery to the world," David Elkington, leader of the British team, said in a news release, adding in an interview with the Daily Mail, "It is a breathtaking thought that we have held these objects that might have been held by the early saints of the Church."


On pages not much bigger than a credit card, are images, symbols and words that appear to refer to the Messiah and, possibly even, to the Crucifixion and Resurrection.


The books were discovered five years ago in a cave in a remote part of Jordan to which Christian refugees are known to have fled after the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD. Important documents from the same period have previously been found there.


Initial metallurgical tests indicate that some of the books could date from the first century AD.


If the dating is verified, the books would be among the earliest Christian documents, predating the writings of St Paul.


The prospect that they could contain contemporary accounts of the final years of Jesus’s life has excited scholars – although their enthusiasm is tempered by the fact that experts have previously been fooled by sophisticated fakes.


Elkington, a British scholar of ancient religious history and archeology and one of the few to have examined the books, says they could be "the major discovery of Christian history."


The Jordanian Government is working at the highest levels to repatriate and safeguard the collection. Philip Davies, emeritus professor of biblical studies at Sheffield University, said there was powerful evidence that the books have a Christian origin in plates cast into a picture map of the holy city of Jerusalem.

Adding to the intrigue, many of the books are sealed, prompting academics to speculate they are actually the lost collection of codices mentioned in the Bible’s Book Of Revelation.

Dr Margaret Barker, a former president of the Society for Old Testament Study, confirmed that a sealed book is mentioned in the Bible.

"As soon as I saw that, I was dumbstruck," she said. "That struck me as so obviously a Christian image. There is a cross in the foreground, and behind it is what has to be the tomb [of Jesus], a small building with an opening, and behind that the walls of the city.

"There are walls depicted on other pages of these books too and they almost certainly refer to Jerusalem. It is a Christian crucifixion taking place outside the city walls."

"The Book of Revelation tells of a sealed book that was opened only by the Messiah.

"Other texts from the period tell of sealed books of wisdom and of a secret tradition passed on by Jesus to his closest disciples. That is the context for this discovery."

Compiled from articles by David Elkington/Rex Features and

Fiona Macrae/www.theprophecyblog.com

www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/03/30/ancient-books-uncovered-jordan

Divine Logos embodies God's wisdom

"In the beginning was the Word (Logos)
and the Word was with God
and the Word was God." 
John 1:1

Since it's Lent, it's high time we discussed the divine Logos, which Thaddeus so beautifully brought up in his comments on "The beginning of wisdom."  

While Christians (and others) understand the Holy Spirit as the divine Spirit available to all of us, the divine Logos is that and so much more. "Logos" is divine wisdom, or the "word" of God and is the awesome, unimaginably beautiful and powerful wisdom of God.  Christians understand the Logos as the Christ, the pre-existent, eternally alive, ultimate divine "knowing" or gnosis of God, which is total wisdom, absolute love in a way and on a level we only barely grasp and the totality of the universal divine power, which is ever-present in the cosmos.

It seems from the beginning of our time on Earth, there has been an on-going conversation between humanity and God which has taken on more encounters than it's possible for us to comprehend.  I think that in every breath we humans take, there is an infusion of God's wisdom or consciousness, but since we're all a bit preoccupied with our little lives, sometimes we miss the essence of God's presence in the experience the messages convey.   

Yet, God's wisdom is being imparted every moment of every day of our lives. In a sense, the wisdom which begins with the "fear" of God is like the smoke from a distant fire.  The Logos is the fire. Christians believe Jesus of Nazareth was destined to come into our human experience already fulfilled with the presence of God's divine wisdom as the Logos. He had the eyes to see, ears to hear, and heart and mind to know God. He sensed and understood deeply God's wisdom and came for the purpose of showing us how to enter into that deepest of all knowings, the inner temple where we meet God within our own spiritual selves.  

In fact, that Logos wisdom transformed Him beyond his original humanity and allowed us to see God's ultimate wisdom which the Gospel of John calls "the logos"  in His life, teachings and ministry.  He taught that we all could "know" this wisdom of God, this logos.  We are all also destined to enter into the same kind of relationship with God that He did and he attempted to teach us how to do that.  He said we were all "sons of God," made in the spiritual likeness of God and therefore also able to encounter and be transformed by the Logos, the ultimate knowledge that God's wisdom is. He did not say we needed to be Christians, Jews or any religion in order to enter into the presence of God and know God's divine wisdom.

He used every tool imaginable to teach us, including his own death and resurrection.  He died so we would receive the Holy Spirit and learn from his death that there is actually no death.  He tore down the inter-dimensional veils that have separated and blinded us to eternal life by his death/resurrection.  He entered eternity and stands there today, as He always has, with his arms outstretched inviting us into the great dance of wisdom, a dance so profound, so beautiful, so awesome that I find it difficult to express it in words, and yet I know it deeply in my heart as we all can.  

I write this in gratitude to Thaddeus. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the Logos and God's wisdom which is available to all of us, regardless of religion!!

The beginning of wisdom

"Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. 

They will soar on wings like eagles; 

they will run and not grow weary, 

they will walk and not be faint." 

Isaiah 40:31

There are two kinds of "wisdom."  There's that understanding that comes from a good sound education combined with some hard-earned life experience.  That's worldly wisdom.  It teaches you how to "succeed" in the world, make money, get a date, look good for the job, get the job, keep the job and exceed in the job, then how to invest your  money to make more money and all the other do's and don'ts of self-centered gratification.

Then, there's the real wisdom, the wisdom of God, the kind of deep awareness, enlightenment, understanding, truth, that the world seems to not get, despite all this time and all the effort religious people and institutions have gone to make the world a Godly kingdom.  To talk about the wisdom of God without the cornerstone of that wisdom is to look for a needle in the haystack.

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."  (Proverbs 9 New International Version)

As I watch the news of wars for liberation in the Middle East, it is so clear that these uprisings, these bloody battles for freedom, for liberation, for self-determination and democratic government, stem from a single cause.  The people would rather die than be enslaved by a tyrannical, oppressive dictator.  They want freedom and their courage to fight for that freedom stems from their freedom from fear.  The people no longer, as a group, fear their dictator.  They have come to realize that living in fear is worse than death.  They are throwing off the shackles of fear.  

I admire them tremendously for their courage, for their sacrifice, for their cry for freedom, yet I also am anxious that unless they are truly liberated from within their own hearts and minds, free from all else that enslaves the human heart, they will never really be free.  These rugged and daring freedom fighters are pioneers, beginning somewhere because they have to begin somewhere.  Time will test them, but their first step is to walk away from their fear of their dictators and embrace their destiny as a free people, filled with the awesome responsibility that freedom calls for.

It seems people naturally adhere to that which they fear. This is the strange hold abusive power has on those who are controlled by oppressive fear. Authentic power like God's power doesn't control.  Rather than cage you, limit you, diminish you, lead you to distrust your own strength, wisdom and power, it sets you free to find yourself and soar "as on eagle's wings," Isaiah says. 

That kind of creative, loving power induces a profound respect, a different kind of fear than that impelled on one through control.  It instills the ultimate in respect that comes from the awakened awareness that one is cherished, loved, held with compassion and nurtured toward a higher potential.  Out of that awareness comes awe, respect, love - the highest form of "fear," which is the awesome awareness of God's power.  

To fear a dictator is surrendering your blood, sweat and tears to someone who only wants to use you for his own profit as the people of the Middle East are coming to see. While the refusal to be controlled by someone like Moammar Gadhafi comes at a terrible price, his power to destroy stops at the grave.  God's power to create continues beyond the grave. 

To fear God, who loves us all with a limitless love, compassion and mercy, and only wants us to stand up in our creative power and walk tall with the dignity He has endowed us with, is the beginning of wisdom.  In the first commandment, God asks us not to have any other gods, before Him.  He asks us to not worship anyone or thing other than Him.  He love is ultimate power.  He holds tremendous blessings and gifts for us, to give to us when we wisely turn to Him for our protection and love.

While the world has grappled with a bit of a misunderstanding around God's law, which we interpreted with a fire and brimstone kind of judgment, we have also foolishly thrown out God's law.  We scoff at His timeless laws, only to learn finally at the end of our collective rope, that just maybe God was right.  Maybe some of those old laws were there to protect us.  Maybe we will discover that when we have the courage to exchange our fear of abusive power for the respectful fear of a great and loving, all merciful, gracious God.  Maybe then we will experience the sweetness of God's peace and a grace and dignity in our lives which we may have lost sight of.  

As I think about "the fear of God," the image of Isaiah (Isaiah 6)  trembling in the temple, filled with the Lord's robe, as God's presence fills it, wrapping him in His presence, vibrantly stirs my imagination. That, to me, is what the fear of the Lord looks like. It is a natural human instinctual response to awesome power. But God's power doesn't take from us, as an oppressive or abusive leader, rather God's power gives to us.  If only we would trust God, believe in His benevolence rather than project on our understanding of God the cruelty of the dark and false powers.

When the angel touches Isaiah's lips with a coal, wisdom fills his mind and he is sent out to warn the people to turn their hearts and minds back to God.  In his fear, awe, respect, Isaiah is filled with wisdom.  Also, Ezekiel's fearsome visions, similar in image and intensity, also are given to him both as warning and as wisdom. These visions stir a respect so profound that fear seems to outshine awe in intensity. While there may be considerable debate among Biblical scholars about these visions, there is no doubt that the prophets were awakened, enlightened and empowered by their visionary experiences.

There is an ineffable other-worldly power in this kind of wisdom.  It isn't meant to bring fear of a wrathful God, but awareness of the power of God and of God's reality. There is also a strength and knowledge that has miraculous benefits to all God's children, if we would only give our respect to God and not to anything in this world. 

Whatever name you call God - YHWH, Jehovah, Allah, Jesus, Krishna, Brahma or Great Spirit, it doesn't matter.  God is the source of our lives, our creator, and who waits for us to turn our hearts back to him, where we will experience, like Isaiah, God's love and presence filling our own inner temples, awakening our minds and loosening our lips to proclaim the tremendous wonder and joy of the encounter.

I think we all need to beware of anything or anyone we find ourselves fearing more than God, anyone or anything to which we give our own power, our own decision-making, who we give the power to control our joy.  We all need God today more than ever.  I wonder, if we are willing to fight for our freedom from tyranny are we ready to put our trust and fear on the One who would give us back our lives, restore our dignity, fill our stomachs, clothe our bodies, and provide for us in ways that we can only barely imagine.  Are we, can we, will we, return our hearts to God with a full commitment and determination not to be swallowed up by the saccharine charms that tempt and taunt us like Ulysses's sea nymphs?  

I truly believe that the commitment to turn our hearts and minds and very lives back to God, with fear, love, respect, and honor, above all else, would restore our dignity to the rightful place as the children of God we were always meant to be. Equipped with God's power, wisdom and vision, we will have the tools we need to stand up courageously against the false powers. Then, we will be able to move diligently into the future where we will need God's guidance and strength to co-create a new world - free of oppression, exploitation and greed, this time with a power and love which we've only glimpsed during our long dark ages.