Category Archives: Loving Well

Daily Riches: Where God Goes … And Where God May Be Found (Henri Nouwen, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Karl Barth and Eugene Peterson)

Posted on by under Being and Doing, Contemplation and Activism, Downward Mobility, God's Grace, hospitality, Humility, Jesus the Savior, Loving Well, Social Justice, The Poor and Disenfranchised, The Upside-Down Kingdom, True Greatness

“But it is not said of Jesus that he reached down from on high to pull us up from slavery, but that he became a slave with us. God’s compassion is a compassion that reveals itself in servanthood. Jesus became subject to the same powers and influences that dominate us, and suffered our fears, uncertainties and anxieties with us. …He gave up a privileged position, a position of majesty and power, and assumed fully and without reservation a condition of total dependency. Paul’s hymn of Christ does not ask us to look upward, away from our condition, but to look in our midst and discover God there. …In the Gospel stories of Jesus’ healings, we sense how close God wants to be with those who suffer. But now we see the price God is willing to pay for this intimacy. It is the price of ultimate servanthood, the price of becoming a slave, completely dependent on strange, cruel, alien forces. …Jesus moves, as Karl Barth says, from ‘the heights to the depth, from victory to defeat, from riches to poverty, from triumph to suffering, from life to death.’ Jesus’ whole life and mission involved accepting powerlessness and revealing in this powerlessness the limitlessness of God’s love. Here we see what compassion means. It is not a bending toward the underprivileged from a privileged position; it is not a reaching out from on high to those who are less fortunate below; it is not a gesture of sympathy or pity for those who fail to make it in the upward pull. On the contrary, compassion means going directly to those people and places where suffering is most acute and building a home there.” Henri Nouwen

“God had looked upon the poor of the world and had himself come to help. Now he was there, not as the Almighty One, but in the seclusion of humanity. Wherever there are sinners, the weak, the sorrowful, the poor in the world, that is where God goes. Here he lets himself be found by everyone.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.”
John 1:14 (Eugene Peterson)

Moving From Head to Heart

  • Consider this. Jesus made himself “completely dependent on strange, cruel, alien forces” in order to serve you.
  • Does your compassion (like that of Jesus) transcend sympathy and pity and involve “servanthood?”
  • Do you think it’s realistic to talk of going “directly to those people and places where suffering is most acute and building a home there?” (In many ways Nouwen’s life shows what he must have had in mind.)

Abba, may you be found by everyone.

For More: Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life by Henri Nouwen

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Thanks so much for reading and sharing this blog! – Bill

Daily Riches: Practicing the Presence … Vertical and Horizontal (J. I. Packer, Pete Scazzero, Jean Vanier)

Posted on by under Contemplation and Activism, Contemplative Prayer, Emotions and Spirituality, Loving Well

“We only honor God as we honor his image in the other person by practical love to that person, whoever he or she may be: rich or poor, strong or weak, red or yellow, black or white, conventional or wild, respectable or rough, significant or unimportant in the community. To put it the other way round, honoring and loving God means refusing one’s natural inclination to withhold love and honor from people whom one finds awkward, repellent, and inconvenient.” J. I. Packer

“As emotionally mature Christian adults, we recognize that loving well is the essence of true spirituality. This requires that we experience connection with God, with ourselves, and with other people. God invites us to practice his presence in our daily lives. At the same time, he invites us to ‘practice the presence of people,’ within an awareness of his presence, in our daily relationships. Sadly, the two are rarely brought together. Jesus’ profound, contemplative prayer life with his Father resulted in a contemplative presence with people. Love is ‘to reveal the beauty of another person to themselves,’ wrote Jean Vanier. Jesus did that with each person he met. We see this in his interaction with the woman suffering from a twelve-year bleeding problem (Mark 5). This ability to really listen and pay attention to people was at the very heart of Jesus’ mission, and it could not help but move him to compassion. In the same way, out of our contemplative time with God, we too are invited to be prayerfully present to people, revealing their beauty to them.” Pete Scazzero

“… the one who does not love his brother
whom he has seen,
cannot love God
whom he has not seen.”
1 John 4:20

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Do you find that you are naturally included “to withhold love and honor from people whom you find awkward, repellent, and inconvenient?” Yeah, me too.
  • Loving well requires being “present” to God and people, yet “sadly, the two are rarely brought together.” Do you work at both?
  • Do you see loving well in this way as the “essence of true spirituality?” Have you perhaps put something else first?

Abba, most of all, let me love.

For More: Christianity the True Humanism by J. I. Packer

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: I Am The Enemy Who Must Be Loved (Carl Jung, Martin Niemöller and Richard Rohr)

Posted on by under Change Yourself First, Contemplation, Contemplation and Activism, Emotions and Spirituality, Forgiveness, God's Grace, Insiders and Outsiders, Loving Well, Mindfulness, Silence

“It took me a long time to learn that God is not the enemy of my enemies. He is not even the enemy of His enemies.” Martin Niemöller

“The acceptance of oneself is the essence of the whole moral problem and the epitome of a whole outlook on life. That I feed the hungry, that I forgive an insult, that I love my enemy in the name of Christ – all these are undoubtedly great virtues. What I do unto the least of my brethren, that I do unto Christ. But what if I should discover that the least among them all, the poorest of all the beggars, the most impudent of all the offenders, the very enemy himself – that these are within me, and that I myself stand in need of the alms of my own kindness – that I myself am the enemy who must be loved – what then? As a rule, the Christian’s attitude is reversed; there is no longer any question of love or long-suffering; we say to the brother within us ‘Raca,’ and condemn and rage against ourselves. We hide it from the world; we refuse to admit ever having met this least among the lowly in ourselves.” Carl Jung

“Do not try to settle the dust. …Do not seek a glib, quick answer, but leave all things for a while in the silent space. Do not rush to judgment. That is what it really means that God alone is the judge. …If you start with no, which is critiquing, judging, pigeonholing, analyzing, dismissing, it is very hard to get back to yes. You must learn to start every single encounter with a foundational yes, before you ever dare to move to no. That is the heart of contemplation … a beginner’s mind. It will always be silent before it dares to speak.” Richard Rohr 

“But I say to you, love your enemies”
Jesus in Matthew 5:44

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Knowing the worst about yourself, condemning and raging against it, being unable to forgive it (even though God does) – this is “the essence of the whole moral problem” – for if you can’t love the enemy within, how can you love the enemy from without?
  • Do you understand that God is not the enemy of your enemies? …that the all-too common fear and hatred you feel towards enemies is foreign to God – repugnant to God – prohibited for you?
  • In a world gone mad, are you able to let the dust settle, step back in silence, and contemplate before you judge?

Abba, may I love my “enemies” in this world, just as you do.

For More: Silent Compassion by Richard Rohr

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If you found this encouraging, challenging or thought-provoking, please share it! And thanks much! – Bill

Daily Riches: How the Poor Bless Us (Bob McCahill, Thomas Merton, Eduardo Galeano)

Posted on by under Insiders and Outsiders, Jesus the Savior, Learning Your Proper Place, Loving Well, Spiritual Formation, The Poor and Disenfranchised, The Upside-Down Kingdom

“The mask that each man wears may well be a disguise not only for that man’s inner self but for God, wandering as a pilgrim and exile in His own creation.” Thomas Merton

“It seems to me that the poor evangelize us by giving us various types of good example. They instruct us in patience by their patience under adversity. They edify us by their uncomplaining struggles. They inspire us by undergoing suffering without becoming bitter. They encourage us to face our own problems more bravely by grappling with the pain in their lives. They teach us about the simplicity with which one can live a human life. They offer us a good model for prayer life by their dependence on God: that is, in times of great need they look to God before all else. They do not appeal to God secondly or lastly after other possibilities have failed them. When we witness their efforts to survive with dignity amidst the hardships they constantly encounter, they help us to put into perspective our own overblown problems. Through the struggling poor we begin to understand how good God is to us and how stingy we are with our thanksgiving to God. If we think about them deeply enough, they put us to shame, for, though they are oppressed, they can still laugh and sing.” Bob McCahill

“I don’t believe in charity; I believe in solidarity. Charity is vertical, so it’s humiliating. It goes from top to bottom. Solidarity is horizontal. It respects the other and learns from the other. I have a lot to learn from other people.”  Eduardo Galeano

“You say, ‘I am rich;
I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’
But you do not realize
that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.”
Jesus in Revelation 3:17

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Have poor people helped you to realize how poor you are? …how good God is to you? …how “stingy” you are with your thanksgiving to God? What else?
  • Do you think of your relationship to the poor in terms of “solidarity?” What would that mean?
  • Jesus wandered as a poor man, in disguise among his own creation. Does remembering that help you love those who are poor?

Abba, use your poor to show me the way and to bless me as I attempt to bless them.

For More: A Dialogue of Life by Bob McCahill

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek God and he seeks you. I hope you’ll follow and share my blog. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: Immigrants as Neighbors (Frederick Buechner)

Posted on by under Awareness, hospitality, Insiders and Outsiders, Loving Well, The Love of God

“When Jesus said to love your neighbor, a lawyer who was present asked him to clarify what he meant by neighbor. He wanted a legal definition he could refer to in case the question of loving one ever happened to come up. He presumably wanted something on the order of: ‘A neighbor (hereinafter referred to as the party of the first part) is to be construed as meaning a person of Jewish descent whose legal residence is within a radius of no more than three statute miles from one’s own legal residence unless there is another person of Jewish descent (hereinafter to be referred to as the party of the second part) living closer to the party of the first part than one is oneself, in which case the party of the second part is to be construed as neighbor to the party of the first part and one is oneself relieved of all responsibility of any sort or kind whatsoever.’ Instead, Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), the point of which seems to be that your neighbor is to be construed as meaning anybody who needs you. The lawyer’s response is left unrecorded.” Frederick Buechner

“Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor
to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked.
The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.”
Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”
Luke 10:36,37

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • “Anybody who needs you” is a pretty tall order. The next time you have the opportunity, can you just help “somebody” who needs you?
  • Do you sometimes put forth reasons to absolve yourself from the need to help someone in need? Would they pass the Jesus test?
  • If someone robbed your son, leaving him unconscious in a dangerous place, would you think passersby were obligated to help?

“Let nothing, O Lord, disturb the silence of this night.
Let nothing make me afraid. Let me wake refreshed,
ready to love and care for my neighbor
as you have loved and cared for me,
and indeed as I love and care for myself.
For if I do not love others
I cannot fool myself into believing that I love you.
I am, I know, as this day ends very far from such a love,
but hear my prayer.
When I see others, let me see you.
Let me show them the same reverence and respect
that I would show you.
If I love them, I will love you
and I will want for nothing.”
Teresa of Avila

For More: Wishful Thinking by Frederick Buechner

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If you liked this, please share! – and thanks! – Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

 

Daily Riches: Thanksgiving In Desperate Times (Martin Rinkart and Robert Morgan)

Posted on by under Community & the Church, Contemplation and Activism, Embracing Losses and Limits, Emotions and Spirituality, Faith and Doubt, hospitality, Loving Well
“Martin Rinkart (1586-1649) [was] a Lutheran pastor in the little village of Eilenberg, Saxony. He grew up as the son of a poor coppersmith, felt called to the ministry, and after his theological training began his pastoral work just as the Thirty Years’ War was raging through Germany. Floods of refugees streamed into the walled city of Eilenberg. It was the most desperate of times. The Swedish army encompassed the city gates, and inside the walls there was nothing but plague, famine, and fear. Eight hundred homes were destroyed, and people began dying in increasing numbers. There was a tremendous strain on the pastors, who expended all their strength in preaching the gospel, caring for the sick and dying, and burying the dead. One after another, the pastors themselves took ill and perished until at last only Martin Rinkart was left. Some days he conducted as many as fifty funerals. Finally the Swedes demanded a huge ransom. It was Martin Rinkart who left the safety of the city walls to negotiate with the enemy, and he did it with such courage and faith that there was soon a conclusion of hostilities, and the period of suffering ended. Rinkart, knowing there is no healing without thanksgiving, composed this hymn for the survivors of Eilenberg. It has been sung around the world ever since.” Robert Morgan
“Now thank we all our God,
with heart and hands and voices,
who wondrous things hath done,
in whom his world rejoices;
who from our mother’s arms
hath blessed us on our way
with countless gifts of love,
and still is ours today.
.
“O may this bounteous God
through all our life be near us,
with ever-joyful hearts
and blessed peace to cheer us;
and keep us in his grace,
and guide us when perplexed,
and free us from all ills
in this world and the next.”
Martin Rinkart
.

“In everything give thanks
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
1 Thessalonians 5:18

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Are you a thankful person?
  • What might have been your response as a resident of Eilenberg? …of your family? …of your faith community?
  • Do you have some practice in your life that is teaching you “in everything to give thanks?”

Abba, remind me, even this day, to give thanks in all things.

For More: Then Sings My Soul by Robert J. Morgan

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: Your Priesthood in Christ’s Church (Barbara Brown Taylor)

Posted on by under Community & the Church, Embracing Losses and Limits, Humility, Loving Well

“After a very long engagement, it had finally happened. I was a priest in Christ’s Church. Even now, I would prefer a more user friendly word like pastor, but the truth is that an ancient word like priest captures the risk of this vocation as well as any word I know. In my lexicon, at least, a priest is someone willing to stand between a God and a people who are longing for one another’s love, turning back and forth between them with no hope of tending either as well as each deserves. To be a priest is to serve a God who never stops calling people to do more justice and love more mercy and simultaneously to serve people who nine times out of ten are just looking for a safe place to rest. To be a priest is to know that things are not as they should be and yet to care for them the way they are. To be a priest is to suspect that there is always something more urgent that you should be doing, no matter what you are doing, and to make peace with the fact that the work will never get done. To be a priest is to wonder sometimes if you are missing the boat altogether, by deferring pleasure in what God has made until you have fixed it up so that it will please God more. …being ordained is not about serving God perfectly but about serving God visibly, allowing other people to learn whatever they can from watching you rise and fall.” Barbara Brown Taylor


“You are royal priests,
a holy nation….”
1 Peter 2:9

Moving From the Head to the Heart

Every member of Christ’s church is a priest. Whether you are a professional or amateur, God’s expectations are daunting.

  • Can you stand between God and people and help connect them love?
  • Can you call people to a higher place who often don’t want to go there?
  • Can you love things as they are, not as they’re supposed to be?
  • Can you accept that no matter what you do, the work will never be done?
  • Can you be open enough to let others learn from “watching you rise and fall?”

Abba, strengthen me and every one of us who labor in your holy, royal service.

For More: Leaving Church by Barbara Brown Taylor

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others! My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest! – Bill

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: The Necessary Union of Contemplation and Activism (Pete Scazzero, Mother Teresa and Stephen W. Smith)

Posted on by under "Being" with Jesus, Being and Doing, Change Yourself First, Contemplation and Activism, Daily Office, fixed-time prayers, Learning Your Proper Place, Loving Well, Rest and Relaxation, Rule of Life, Sabbath Rhythms, Self-care, Silence, Solitude

“Paradoxically, the ability to be alone is the condition for the ability to love.” Erich Fromm

“In Stephen W. Smith’s recent book, Inside Job, he cites the Rule of Life Mother Teresa laid down for her nuns in their work among the sick and dying in Calcutta:

The Sisters shall spend 1 day in every week, 1 week in every month,
1 month in every year, 1 year in every 6 years in the Motherhouse,
where in contemplation and penance together with solitude she can
gather in the spiritual strength, which she might have used up in the
service of the poor.

“Imagine 1 Sabbath day every week, 1 Sabbath week every month, 1 Sabbath month every year, and 1 Sabbath year every 7 years. …Every one of us ministers among the sick and dying. Yet we consistently underestimate how much emotional/spiritual life is flowing out from us. If we are going to have the kind of impact Mother Teresa had, it will require we do less, not more. …Remember, we cannot give what we do not possess….” Pete Scazzero

“God is the friend of silence. His language is silence. And he requires us to be silent to discover him. We need, therefore, silence to be alone with God, to speak to him, to listen to him and to ponder his words deep in our hearts. We need to be alone with God in silence to be renewed and to be transformed. For silence can give us a new outlook on life. In it we are filled with the grace of God, which makes us do all things with joy.” Mother Teresa

“But despite Jesus’ instructions, the report of his power spread even faster,
and vast crowds came to hear him preach and to be healed of their diseases.
But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.”
Jesus in Luke 5:15,16

Moving From the Head to the Heart (Scazzero questions)

  • How aware are you of the life that is flowing out of you to others?
  • Our bodies are major, not minor prophets. If your body could speak, what would it be saying to you about the pace of your life today?
  • Are your daily rhythms sufficient for what God has placed before you (Mother Teresa’s nuns spend 3 hours a day in fixed hour prayer)?
  • What adjustments might God be inviting you to make in your weekly, monthly, and annual rhythms?  Often what worked for us in one season (e.g. last year) is not sufficient for the season we are in this year.

Jesus, may I live so that life flows into me from you and out of me to others.

For More: Come Be My Light by Mother Teresa

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If you liked this, please share it! – Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: The Heart of the Christian Faith (Lamar Vest and Richard Stearns)

Posted on by under Awareness, Insiders and Outsiders, Loving Well, Social Justice, The Poor and Disenfranchised

“Despite the fact that God’s heart for the poor is mentioned in some 2,100 verses of Scripture, many of us simply miss it. In a recent survey of adults in America conducted by Harris Interactive, although 80 percent of adults claimed to be familiar with the Bible–the best-selling book in history–46 percent think the Bible offers the most teachings on heaven, hell, adultery, pride or jealousy. In fact, there are more teachings on poverty than on any of those topics. …[And a] mandate for Christians to ‘go and do likewise’ (Luke 1:10) as laid out so clearly in the parable of the Good Samaritan…. How did Christianity drift so far from Jesus’ mandate to care for the widows and orphans? …From the first days of Christianity, followers of Jesus have demonstrated distinct concern for the poor and the oppressed. The apostle Paul speaks in Acts about returning to Jerusalem to bring ‘gifts for the poor.’ The early Christians rescued abandoned children and stayed in plague-ridden cities to help the sick. …When St. Francis leaped off his horse and embraced a leper, he was emulating what he’d read about Jesus. Throughout history, Christians have had a strong, if sometimes inconsistent, record of battling social ills. While some used the Black Death as an opportunity for fear mongering, Christians were among the few to remain in disease-ravaged cities to care for the sick. While many Christians acquiesced to slavery, it was a Christian, William Wilberforce, who led the fight to end the British slave trade and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and others joining alongside him who championed racial equality in the United States. …Care for the poor and suffering should be at the core of our Christian faith because it is at the core of God’s desire–written large across the pages of the Bible.” Lamar Vest and Richard Stearns

“For I was hungry, and you fed me.”
Jesus in Matthew 25:35

Moving From Head to Heart

  • Well known Pastor Rick Warren was stunned the first time he noticed “the sheer volume of verses in the Bible that express God’s compassion for the poor and oppressed.” How about you? Are you still thinking the Bible’s biggest concern is heaven, hell or adultery?
  • Historically, many Christians emulated Jesus in their treatment of the poor and oppressed–and many others acted shamefully. If this is the measure, how are you doing?
  • Do you attempt to use your influence in the church to see that the poor are helped? …in your political party?

Jesus, I will follow you in caring for the poor, the helpless, and the oppressed.

For More: The Poverty and Justice Bible

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My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. If you liked this, please share!  –  Bill

Daily Riches: Emulating Rabbi Jesus (Keri Wyatt Kent, Rob Bell)

Posted on by under "Being" with Jesus, Asceticism, Being and Doing, Busyness, contemplative virtues, Hurry Sickness, Jesus the Savior, Learning Your Proper Place, Loving Union with God, Loving Well, Mindfulness, Rule of Life, Sabbath Rhythms, Simplicity, Spiritual Disciplines, Spiritual Formation

“When Jesus spoke of his ‘yoke,’ his listeners in that day and culture would understand it a bit differently than we might. A rabbi like Jesus would tell his followers how he interpreted the Torah … and the Prophets. His interpretation of how to apply God’s law, how to live it out, was called his yoke. For example, a rabbi’s yoke was simply his teaching on what it means, practically speaking, to ‘love your neighbor’ or ‘honor your parents.’ What specific things did you need to do to comply with those rules? And which rules were the most important? That’s what a rabbi’s yoke addressed. A rabbi’s disciples would take on his yoke, that is, try to emulate their master, try to live out God’s law by using the rabbi as a role model. That’s why, in the gospel stories, you often find people asking Jesus questions such as ‘Which is the most important commandment?’ or ‘Who is my neighbor?’ They are asking, okay, Jesus, what’s your yoke? Learning this (thanks to Pastor Rob Bell) was revolutionary for me. I had always thought of a yoke as a heavy burden, and I was confused about how a yoke could be easy or light. If a yoke is simply a way of life, a lifestyle that Jesus modeled, a way of life that says simply love God and love each other, then it is entirely possible. It could be something light. …The metaphor also reminds us that we are not working by ourselves. Instead, we are yoked to Jesus, and he shares equally in the burden of our transformation. He is at our side and is for us. We’re not carrying the burden of living the Christian life alone. Jesus is not the farmer driving the ox; he’s the other ox pulling with us. We need to slow down enough to notice that he’s there and work with him, not against him.” Keri Wyatt Kent

“Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you … and you will find rest for your souls.”

Jesus in Matthew 11:29

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Before we can “do what Jesus did” we need to live as Jesus lived. Jesus practiced simplicity, slowness and sabbath. Are you “emulating Jesus” in any of these ways?
  • Jesus loved God and others. Can you do that?
  • Do you ever feel like Jesus is “the farmer driving the ox” – and that you’re the ox? Where does that come from?

Abba, help me remember you’re right beside me. Help me work with you, not against you.

For More: Breathe by Keri Wyatt Kent

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek God and he seeks you. If this was helpful, please share! –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: What Jesus Did (Bill Gaultiere, Marcus Halley, and Carlo Carretto)

Posted on by under Community & the Church, Emotions and Spirituality, hospitality, Humility, Insiders and Outsiders, Jesus the Savior, Loving Well, The Love of God, Wholeness and Brokenness

“Jesus’ response to aggression is revolutionary. It’s so wise, so beautiful, so strong, and so different from what is normally done. In tense and angry situations, when he’s being judged, baited, or hit, look at how he responds. He tells a story, asks a question, calmly explains, heals people, wiggles out of traps, walks away, prays, or silently accepts the mistreatment. In all cases he holds his ground, de-escalates the conflict, and speaks the truth in love.” Bill Gaultiere

“God is a gathering god and insomuch as God gathers all sorts of people unto God’s self, we are challenged to offer our own imperfect love in sacrifice to God. Christian love challenges each of us to open our arms wider than we think we should to embrace a community exceedingly greater than we could possibly imagine. Just when we think we’ve stretched as far as we can, we hear Jesus say ‘wider … open wider.'” Marcus Halley

“God loves what in us is not yet. What has still to come to birth. What we love in a person is what already is: virtue, beauty, courage, and hence our love is self-interested and fragile. God, loving what is not yet and putting faith in us, continually begets us since love is what begets. By giving us confidence, God helps us to be born, since love is what helps us emerge from our darkness and draws us to the light. And this is such a fine thing to do that God invites us to do the same.” Carlo Carretto

“let us run with endurance the race God has set before us …
keeping our eyes on Jesus,
the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.”
Hebrews 12:2

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Wouldn’t you love to be able to routinely respond as Jesus did in conflict– calmly, cleverly and with love?
  • When you’ve “stretched as far as you can” welcoming others into your worshiping community, or your circle of friends, are you willing to imitate the love of Jesus, and stretch some more? …who might God be nudging you to include?
  • How can you learn to love in a manner that helps others “be born … and emerge from [their] darkness?” How can you practice doing such a “fine thing?”

Abba, show me how I can practice loving with arms wide open.

For More: The Life You’ve Always Wanted by John Ortberg

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: Why Racism Continues in the Church Today – Part II (Pete Scazzero)

Posted on by under Awareness, Being the Beloved, Community & the Church, Emotions and Spirituality, Humility, Insiders and Outsiders, Learning Your Proper Place, Loving Well

For over twenty-five years, New Life Fellowship in Queens, has been developing a paradigm for the practice of unity in the midst of great diversity. Today’s post includes the remainder of Pastor Scazzero’s reasons why racism, one great source of disunity, continues in Evangelical and other church traditions:

“6. Isolation.

Most American Christians attend churches with people who look like they do, perpetuating a subculture of minimal contact with people of different races and cultures. As a result: ‘Despite devoting considerable time and energy to solving the problem of racial division, White evangelicalism likely does more to perpetuate the racialized society than to reduce it.’ Michael Emerson and Christian Smith*

7. Naiveté regarding demonic powers and principalities.

Evil, unclean spirits are real, feasting on the wounds of a split nation and church. To drive them [out] involves us in a spiritual warfare beyond discussions and statistics. It calls for our following of Jesus to the cross.

8. Lack of skills to love well. 

Learning to love well is among our most important tasks as Christ-followers. Learning to listen, ‘fight’ cleanly, and speak clearly and honestly (to name a few) are foundational for being a healthy community. Bridging barriers requires we create a new culture with a new language. For this reason we developed Emotionally Healthy Skills 2.0 out of our life together at New Life over our 29 year history.

9. Obliviousness of systemic racism.

Peggy McIntosh said it well: “I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group.” (See her “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack“)

10. Emotional Immaturity.

It is not possible to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature. To engage in this level of warfare without addressing people’s immaturities (e.g. unawareness, defensiveness, ignorance of how our families of origin impact us) is a sure recipe for further wounding and division.” Pete Scazzero

“grow up in all things into Him who is the head”
Ephesians 4:15

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Is your church helping to perpetuate our “racialized society?” Don’t be too quick to answer.
  • Did you read McIntosh’s words about white privilege. Are you oblivious to the reality of white privilege?
  • Does the ministry of your church help you be a more mature person? …a better human being?

Abba, help! We’re in deep waters.

*For More: Divided by Race: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America by Michael Emerson and Christian Smith

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek God and he seeks you. Thanks for reading and sharing my blog. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: Why Racism Continues in the Church Today – Part I (Pete Scazzero)

Posted on by under Awareness, Being the Beloved, Community & the Church, Emotions and Spirituality, hospitality, Humility, Insiders and Outsiders, Learning Your Proper Place, Loving Well, Spiritual Formation, The Call to Change

Pete Scazzero pastored New Life Fellowship in Elmhurst, Queens for over 25 years. The church reflects the demographic diversity of Elmhurst – perhaps the most demographically diverse zip code in the country. Over the years, the church has been forced to deal with racism in unsuspected and painful ways. Here’s why, according to Scazzero, this problem is so persistent:

“1. Failure to capture Scripture’s vision of the church as a multi-racial community that transcends racial, cultural, economic and gender barriers.

The gospel is the power of God that bridges the infinite gap between humanity and God as well as the ‘dividing wall’ between races, cultures, ethnicities, social classes, and genders.

2. Measuring success primarily by numbers.

We want to grow our churches. We want it to happen quickly. The problem is that bridging racial barriers is slow and will rarely produce ‘big’ numbers.

3. Superficial discipleship.

We focus on getting people ‘over the line’ into salvation and connected. We don’t spend an equal amount of time equipping them to be deeply transformed in their interior lives. ‘Who can your child not marry?’ The answer to that question tells us a lot about how deeply the gospel has penetrated a person’s life.

4. Failure to break the power of the past.

Sins like racism are passed on from generation to generation. At New Life we like to say, ‘Jesus may live in your heart but Grandpa lives in your bones.’ Each of us – African American, Latino, White, Russian, Jew, Arab, Serbian, African, Chinese, Korean, and Pole – must take the journey of Abraham. We must decisively leave our family, our culture, and our country and learn to do life in the new family of Jesus.

5. An inadequate, biblical theology of grief and loss.

If I don’t deeply feel my own losses, how am I going to deeply enter the world of those who suffer the sting of racism? Trauma is passed from one generation to the next. We see this most powerfully in overwhelming historical events such as the Holocaust and slavery. Unresolved loss gets buried behind a curtain of silence, incubating fear and shame. Biblical grieving powerfully heals and transforms.” Pete Scazzero

“There is neither Jew nor Gentile,
neither slave nor free,
nor is there male and female,
for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Galatians 3:28

Moving From Head to Heart

  • How well is the foundational principle of Galatians 3:28 being worked out in your church? If favoritism is on display, can you show others a better way?
  • Are you sensitive to your own prejudices? How much does “grandpa in your bones” still affect you?
  • Is your church experience transformative? Are people growing more loving, inclusive, more humble over time?

Abba, teach us a better way in the family of Jesus.

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Thanks for reading. Please share!  –  Bill

Daily Riches: Love Turned Inward on the Self (Hannah Hurnard, Gustavo Gutierrez, John Bunyan and Julian of Norwich)

Posted on by under Forgiveness, God's Grace, Loving Well, The Love of God, thirsting and longing for God

“Holiness is a most lovely word in the Bible sense. It means to be separated and set apart; separated, in fact, from all that is not love and set apart for one purpose only, that the Spirit of Holy Love may dwell in us and think in us and express himself through us. Holy people are people in whom holy love is incarnate.  …There is no evil except in the negation of love, which is the law on which God has founded his whole universe. Sin is love turned inward to the self, instead of outward to our Creator and to all mankind whom he has created.” Hannah Hurnard

“Liberation from sin is liberation from the refusal to love.” Gustavo Gutierrez

“Sin is the dare of God’s justice, the jeer of His patience, the slight of His power, and the contempt of His love.” John Bunyan

“God wishes to be seen,
and He wishes to be sought,
and He wishes to be expected,
and He wishes to be trusted.”
Julian of Norwich

“… love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Jesus, in Mathew 5:43-48

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • When you name your worst sin, is it “love turned inward upon itself?”
  • When you sin against God, do you think of it as “the contempt of His love?”
  • Can you sense God being disappointed and hurt by your failure to reciprocate his loving overtures? …by your “refusal to love?” …to “seek” him?

Loving Father, the only thing more astonishing than my sin is your loving grace. The only thing more predictable than my failure is your faithfulness. My sin is new every morning, but so is your unfailing love. Thank you for drawing me to you. Thank you for holding me there.

For More:  The Winged Life by Hannah Hurnard

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: The Encounter with Jesus (Madeleine L’Engle, Pope Francis, Henri Nouwen, Heidi Baker, and Teresa of Avila)

Posted on by under Change Yourself First, Jesus the Savior, Loving Well

“We draw people to Christ not by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it.” Madeleine L’Engle

“Giving them the beauty of the Gospel, the amazement of the encounter with Jesus … and leaving it to the Holy Spirit to do the rest. It is the Lord, says the Gospel, who makes the seed spring and bear fruit.” Pope Francis (on evangelism) “The witness of a Christian life is the first and irreplaceable form of mission.” Pope John Paul II

“If we want to be witnesses like Jesus, our only concern should be to be as alive with the love of God as Jesus was.” Henri Nouwen

“Ministry is simply about loving the person in front of you. It’s about stopping for the one and being the very fragrance of Jesus to a lost and dying world.” Heidi Baker

       “Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.”
Teresa of Avila

“God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.” Acts 2:32

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Proofs and arguments are no substitute for an “encounter with Jesus”, and such an encounter, will often be through you. What are the implications of this as you think about sharing your faith?
  • There are many ways to unintentionally skew the divine intention for another person to encounter Jesus. How do you get in the way? What can you do instead to facilitate such an encounter?
  • Our need to be “the very fragrance of Jesus” to the one before us, means that the most critical part of evangelism occurs before any meeting or conversation takes place – in our preparation to give “the witness of a Christian life” and be “alive with the love of God.” What can you do to be more “alive with the love of God?”

Abba, by your grace, when others encounter me, may they also encounter Jesus and his love – and be changed.

For More: Walking on Water by Madeleine L’Engle

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”