Behind Me Satan

I'm Not A Perfect Person

 Hoobestank

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In the many teachings of the Christian life, none is greater than those dealing with Charity. All "natural" loves, those organic stirrings in the breast may be made full or whole in Charity with the acceptance of the gift as love.
While human emotion or sentimentality in itself may result in an affection which ultimately eats itself up, a love of need, a craving now satisfied, love as gift is looking towards another, one to receive the gift and the giver who gives it. This love is in proportion.

Can one love 'too much?' Loving in proportion is not simply about quantity, rather it places itself in relation to the Creator, the one who gives all from the first. Can then a love be too much for an earthly beloved? The question doesn't seek an answer as to emotional intensity. Rather is asks, whom do you serve, where do you place your treasure?

While all love, we are taught, comes from the Creator, there surely is nothing against fully engaging in human loves, nor for fear of disappointment or hurt as a result. In Luke 14:26 this is carried a step further. It introduces the notion of hate here. What is it to earthly love to hate? Why does Luke say it as he does?

He exclaims in this story, not that the Creator is counseling hate, but rather he is exclaiming to all who wish a taste of divine charity, to 'get behind me,' that they set themselves against the hateful, make no concession to it, nor to the beloved when the beloved calls however sweetly, prompts of Satan, the devil.

A man, retorts the Christ, cannot serve two masters. Either he serves the good or he serves the other. The humble in a sense of Grace may have the sense of service to the One, a knowledge of the Creator herself; only knowledge because the source is so vast.

God is Love, declares Paul. "Not that we loved, but that God has loved us.' 1John 4:10. John declares this not as an entry to mysticism, but as a real beginning, that love is divine energy. This energy loved into being all that exists on earth as a Divine creation.

It is a Creator's love directed to what one finds intrinsically unloveable: the murderer, the thief, the deviant, the cheat, and others, but through a movement of the Holy Spirit, charity comes into play and one gives something of that divine energy, something of ones' own heart, rendering the unloveable more divine, more lovable. All may be clothed in the Christ.

Luke it seems, recognized that there is the complex, unloveable in all of us; that in our darkest recesses are those vague, unformed impulses driving towards the evil energies fully present in the world. Luke 8:11-15
 In the book of Matthew there, further insists that Charity, the Love energy was greater, thus he demands, "Get behind me Satan!"  Mat. 16:23

Love and the Fall

Those who love me, I also love, and those who seek me, find me. --Proverbs 8:17

I'm In You

by Peter Frampton

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I don't care where I go
 When I'm with you
 When I cry, you don't laugh
 'Cause you know me

 I'm in you, you're in me
 I'm in you, you're in me
 'Cause you gave me the love
 Love that I never had
 Yes, you gave me the love
 Love that I never had...

In today's English language, the pronouns he and she have been nearly stripped away. They are avoided, dis-used. Left in their place is a socio-political idea that rejects this very principle of universal oneness. There are labels and divisions, parsing the world into diverse units.
To the ancient mind, this is akin to tragedy. What could take the place of the Chinese idea of the yin and yang? Or the Hindu wedding ceremony in which bride and groom pronounce one to the other, "I am heaven, you are earth;" to which the bride responds, "I am earth, you are heaven."

Many modern minds, especially in the West, will find these ideas unintelligible, in part, thanks to science. Our rational mind does not allow us to go there. It is all myth, we say. Science, in its aims to reduce things to quantifiable matter fails, it cannot see cosmic love.

Rather, science ignores the "final cause" of creation. It cannot rationalize what something or someone was made for, its purpose, its goal, its end. This reason is the most important to creation. The Tenakh tells us that in both the historical and in the ultimate dimension, G-d is the final cause, creation the ultimate end; it is the alpha and the omega, both the beginning and end.

In this ultimate dimension, we are freed "of the dirty little dungeon of a universe that the Enlightenment thinkers" of past centuries have placed us into wholesale. Enlightenment thought, thought in which rationality and science are the reigning sovereigns, gives to modern minds "a universe in which love and beauty, praise and value are mere subjective fictions," invented by the self spinning aloneness of a human mind.

And yet science through all its triumphs has not been able to extinguish an ancient, almost primordial instinct from the deepest places in our soul, to realize love as the highest wisdom and meaning in a life. So then the Judeo-Christian Bible, or Tanakh, in its entirety is to be read with imagination, with myth and analogy as a divine love story, says Peter Kreeft.

In both the Jewish and Christian telling of the story, the Word contained in the book is a covenant, an agreement between G-d, the Lover and his beloved; the persons he created, the Jews and all who come to him in the Spirit of the Oneness (adonai echad).

The word of G-d here is the Christ, the unity of G-d, the Creator. And to the Christian mind, among other names we may call this oneness, the Christ, love incarnate. Christ has proved G-d's love for his creation by the example of the Cross. He has come because of, and for love, alone. He comes out of love.

Other manifestations of love are found in the connection between the "fall" from the garden of Eden. The connection here is found between the fall and freedom. Love does not enslave; love makes free. Because you are the Beloved, you are free. We are not the Creator's pets; we are meant to be G-d's lover.

In the redemption, love manifests. G-d's love is powerful and in full display as soon as Adam falls. He makes a mistake, he falls away from the covenant that he made in free will with G-d to obey.

As covenantal people, Jews traditionally see the "law" of the Torah as an expression of G-d's will. It is their joy to learn, to know this will. Thus they see their holy book as a love making manual, if you will.
In the ten commandments, the Decalog,  the principal covenants presented to creation by G-d, the Creator, are laid out. In essence, they form the whole of the "covenant-contract." G-d is to have this agreement with his people, who in free will grow to abide by this contract, or rule. In following the way of G-d in divine law, more love is made. Human-kind is "fruitful and multiplies."

Caring for the garden, the world of Creation, is so that human persons may learn to be more like Creators. G-d wishes to teach love through loving the world and the soil it comprises, to raise a crop to the benefit of all of creation. This is stewardship in its most wholistic sense.
The Creator starts small and then moves through the world until his love reaches the ears of his perhaps, most complex creation, mankind. As a lover, G-d is not jealous. Sharing in oneness is the essence of all.

"And the forbidden fruit of Adam and Eve is to teach the Beloved the reality of pure, 'blind,' love."
If they had been told that the reason (a rational idea) was that the fruit was poison, would not Adam and Eve have obeyed; not from a trusting, free love, but from a selfish fear?
Yet G-d did command them, and asked for their love in return for no other reason than love itself. This is covenant. When we "fall," we lick our wounds, we gain a sense of the real, we dust ourselves off and remain in the moment, rather than a self-serving, spinning mind.
Thus we again realize the fall as a direction back to the source, back to the Creator and we, are his Beloved. 
This love is not sentimental, it is not cheap, easy or compromising. This is love in totality. You are the deepest secret of G-d's heart. --Peter Kreeft

Gender Identities

And he made each one in his own likeness.  --Genesis 1:25-26

Daisy Jane

by America

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Flyin' me back to Memphis
Gotta find my Daisy Jane
Well the summer's gone
And I hope she's feelin' the same

Well, I just left her to roam the city

Thinkin' it would ease the pain
I'm a crazy man
And I'm playin' my crazy game
Does she really love me?
I think she does
Like the stars above me, I know because
When the sky is bright
Everything's alright

Flyin' me back to Memphis
Honey keep the oven warm
All the clouds are clearin'
And I think we're over the storm

Well I've been pickin' it up around me
Daisy I think I'm sane
Well I'm awful glad
And I guess you're really to blame, blame

Do you really love me?
I hope you do
Like the stars above me, how I love you
When it's cold at night
Everything's all right

Does she really love me?
I think she does
Like the stars above me, I know because
When the sky is bright
Everything's alright

Today's media is all ablaze with reports of which public restrooms are one to use; who will put what signage where? There is an increased perception that humans, made in the image of the Divine Creator are, maybe, not so divine after all. Maybe they're off kilter, mixed-up; it's become quite political. What ever spiritual base it may have is unclear to many these days. Is an individual life, a struggle, confusion towards what is and what is not? Is it like Daisy Jane?

Ms. Schick, American author, Christian writer, speaker and the daughter of a man whom she describes as suffering from Gender Identity Disorder, the result being that he viewed himself not as the Divine did create, but rather as female. For the writer and her family, they came under a great deal of challenge and discord. She writes now of it in several of her books; most recently, Understanding Gender Confusion.

She writes largely from personal experience, from what she has learned and from a primary view of catholic, Christian faith. Regardless of what side of the fence one resides, her experiences are validly her own.
As Christians we are called to love our neighbors as our self, and to give expression to the dignity of all Creation. The prime concern she writes, is to address the pain and confusion of these souls, saying there is in each case, a primary disconnect, "a psychological separation from one's true existence."

She writes also that God the Creator is indeed "very interested in all aspects of our lives."

Matthew 12:10; Luke 6:20 

Amazement of Creation

Wonder

by Natalie Merchant

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Doctors have come
from distant cities
just to see me

stand over my bed
disbelieving what they're seeing
they say I must be one of the wonders
of God's own creation

and as far as they can see they can offer
no explanation
newspapers ask
intimate questions
want confessions
reach into my head
to steal the glory
of my story

they say I must be one of the wonders
of God's own creation
and as far as they can see they can offer
no explanation

I believe
fate smiled and destiny
laughed as she came to my cradle
know that this child will be able
laughed as my body she lifted
know this child will be gifted
with love. with patience,
and with faith she'll make her way

people see me
I'm a challenge
to your balance
I'm over your heads
how I confound you
and astound you
to know I must be one of the wonders
of God's own creation

and as far as you can see you can offer me
no explanation
I believe...

The wonders of creation. Early spring brings all its own natural joys. We look forward to more time out doors, more direct interaction with the natural world. Many, including me will be gardening, planting, mowing, soaking up some sun. I contrast this with a year ago when I was not up to so much activity. The wonders of God's creation. It seems that "fate smiled, and destiny."

To be a 'child gifted with faith, patience and love' we make our way. Without the most basic elements, the air we breathe, the many wonders of creation, the lifetimes we experience would be very different. What would they be? Would they be? And yes, "I'm a challenge to your balance." Walking the way of faith is counter-intuitive; it is in many ways radical. To believe what you cannot see, to trust in the wind you only feel, may indeed be confounding. But do it anyway. You will be challenged and rewarded in many ways.

No one has really offered an adequate explanation for this earth. We try, but its vastness and many facets are daunting; to know that we are one "of the wonders of God's creation" is the most incomprehensible and amazing of all. We share in creation as both a Creator and as a result. While we're not perfect in the least, we are so very lovable, as one of God's creation. Happy spring.

 

My Joy Is to Be in Your Presence

My Joy

by Depeche Mode

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My joy, the air that I breathe

My joy, in God I believe

You move me

My joy, the blood in my veins

My joy, flows in your name

You move me

I'm not a mountain, no

You move me

My joy, heavenly bliss

My joy, the pleasure I miss

You move me

I'm not a mountain, no

You move me

Is it just today that for many of us, our wings have been clipped, our ability to soar fails, and we cannot even begin to negotiate an ascent from the ground upon which we stand? For many, has the sense of transcendence withered?
To transcend is to go beyond, to move past what is in this moment onward to a moment in the next and the next.
It seems correspondingly in this USA, the land of the free and the brave, that heaven is a question mark for many, and hell has simply fallen off the map.

Hell as a place or a state has fallen from the maps of today; nowhere can it easily be found without some digging. This possibly has to do with the incursion of the Civil Religion into our places of worship and most importantly, into our hearts.
Today many doubt the the Creator plays a role, or any role in the life of the world, engaging with people as his active agents; the devil likewise, with some of those persons as his active agents.

The impulse to consider the stories of Creation, whatever their tradition as nice, historical fiction is a product of the Civil Religion. In accomplishing this sense of doubt in the hearts of millions, a sort of sophistication enters, one which actually allows for the facile manipulation of the masses.
This is accomplished by instilling several ideas, one of which is that there are no other agents of creation in the world; that we, like the animals of the planet, exist for our selves alone.

And since the Civil Religion favors no one else at work on the planet besides human-kind, we cannot expect help from any other source but ourselves. This is a steep load to carry on the backs of so relatively puny a beast of burden.

Yet for some contrarians, in this world, my joy, may just rest in your presence; the eternity of the divine, the loving kindnesses of the world, those could not exist without the miracle of a faithful and hope filled spirit, sometimes called the One.

"You will show me the path to life, abounding joy in your presence, the delights at your right hand forever."  Psalm16:11

The Divine Artist of Souls

"None can sense more deeply than you, artists, ingenious creators of beauty that you are, something of the pathos with which God at the dawn of creation looked upon, the work of his hands." --John Paul II

 The artist, image of God the Creator : A letter to artists by John Paul II
"A glimmer of that feeling has shone so often in your eyes when—like the artists of every age—captivated by the hidden power of sounds and words, colors and shapes, you have admired the work of your inspiration, sensing in it some echo of the mystery of creation with which God, the One, sole creator of all things, has wished in some way to associate you...'

"What is the difference between creator and a craftsman? The one who creates bestows being itself, he brings something out of nothing—ex nihilo sui et subiecti, as the Latin puts it—and this, in the strict sense, is a mode of operation which belongs to the Almighty alone.
The craftsman, by contrast, uses something that already exists, to which he gives form and meaning. This is the mode of operation peculiar to man as made in the image of God. In fact, after saying that God created man and woman “in his image”-- Genesis 1:27, the Bible adds that he entrusted to them the task of dominating the earth .
This was the last day of creation. On the previous days, marking as it were the rhythm of the birth of the cosmos, Yahweh, God of Love,  had created the universe. Finally he created the human being, the noblest fruit of his design, to whom he subjected the visible world as a vast field in which human inventiveness might assert itself.
God therefore called man into existence, committing to him the craftsman's task. Through his “artistic creativity” man appears more than ever “in the image of God,” and he accomplishes this task above all in shaping the wondrous “material” of his own humanity and then exercising creative dominion over the universe which surrounds him.
With loving regard, the divine Artist passes on to the human artist a spark of his own surpassing wisdom, calling him to share in his creative power...'

The Vocation of the Artist

"It is important to recognize the distinction, but also the connection, between these two aspects of human activity. The distinction is clear. It is one thing for human beings to be the authors of their own acts, with responsibility for their moral value; it is another to be an artist, able, that is, to respond to the demands of art and faithfully to accept art's specific dictates.
This is what makes the artist capable of producing objects, but it says nothing as yet of his moral character. We are speaking not of moulding oneself, of forming one's own personality, but simply of actualizing one's productive capacities, giving aesthetic form to ideas conceived in the mind.

The distinction between the moral and artistic aspects is fundamental, but no less important is the connection between them. Each conditions the other in a profound way. In producing a work, artists express themselves to the point where their work becomes a unique disclosure of their own being, of what they are and of how they are what they are. And there are endless examples of this in human history.

In shaping a masterpiece, the artist not only summons his work into being, but also in some way reveals his own personality by means of it. For him art offers both a new dimension and an exceptional mode of expression for his spiritual growth. Through his works, the artist speaks to others and communicates with them. The history of art, therefore, is not only a story of works produced but also a story of men and women.

Works of art speak of their authors; they enable us to know their inner life, and they reveal the original contribution which artists offer to the history of culture."

Blessed Are Peacemakers; They Will Inherit the Earth

The Reason

by Hoobastank

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I'm not a perfect person
There's many things I wish I didn't do
But I continue learning
I never meant to do those things to you
And so I have to say before I go

That I just want you to know

I've found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new
And the reason is you

I'm sorry that I hurt you
It's something I must live with everyday

And all the pain I put you through
I wish I could take it all away
And be the one who catches all your tears
That's why I need you to hear

And the reason is you
I'm not a perfect person

I never meant to do those things to you
And so I have to say before I go
That I just want you to know

I've found a reason to show
A side of me you didn't know
A reason for all that I do
And the reason is you

If we want to be true peacemakers, the most vital and intimate peacemaking begins with each of us as individuals within the human family. We cannot support anti-war movements and turn around to attack our neighbor who happens to support another political candidate.
We forgive our selves first and most importantly for our own failings, "I'm not a perfect person," as the lyric records. None of us are. We are not required to be-- to be effective peacemakers.

What is required is that we give evidence of courage and a braveness to forge forward, that we take what is our own and that we own it. Just own it--it is after all  your very own creation, the failing that you have made, "I wish I could take it all away...be the one who catches all your tears." 
You can catch your own tears and do the hard work to "find a reason to show." Even if that reason isn't your first try, or your first thought. Blessed are the Peacemakers, they will inherit the earth.
Peacemaking, forgiveness is powerful, personally and to the world we live in. Let it begin to change you.

Kingdom Come

"All those dumb, old Christians--when will they figure that he ain't never, never gonna come?"


This week, Holy Week to many Christians around the world, comes on the heels of the election of the new Roman Pontiff, Pope Francis. This is the week in the calendar year set aside to usher into our consciousness, the greatest event of the Christian calendar, the death and resurrection of the Christ.

For those whose belief stops at their intellect, indeed this annual event is unintelligible. How stupid is it to think year after year that some dead guy is coming? Very stupid if one does not see themself in the process. The annual event is a time for reflection, for meditation upon the self and others and the ultimates in life, like what it is to live, to grow in love, to believe what we cannot easily perceive, to friend and befriend others, to commit ourselves to our communities and the common ground they can produce.

While these are identifiable Christian values, they are not limited to those persons who identify themselves as Christian. Many, many others will take part in just those same tasks under different names, in different seasons.
What makes the Christian focus on "the dead guy" so identifiable is that the story we learn is that he came at the behest of the Father, Lord Creator, that We, as his children, participate in those very same acts of Creation, and that from this the Holy Spirit guides, influences and maintains certain truths throughout the ages so that we, each one, may grow in love.
The love that was demonstrated on the dying cross by the Christ to "Love one another--love your neighbor as yourself,' and to do so at times is: to 'give up your life for a friend."
Here is the time of year that we are reminded by example that we have a friend in Jesus, no matter what our identified faith community is. The Christ comes for all persons, not just for the Christians.
Rejoice as he rises; for his rising raises us too.

Beautiful, the One

Beautiful

by Christina Aguilera

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Everyday is so wonderful, then suddenly, its hard to breath

Now and then I get insecure, 

from all the pain I'm so ashamed

I am beautiful no matter what they say

Words can't bring me down

I am beautiful in every single way

Yes words can't bring me down 

So don't you bring me down today 

To all your friends you're delirious

So consumed in all your doom.... 

Trying hard to fill that emptiness,

The pieces gone,left the puzzle undone, 

Ain't that the way it is?

You are beautiful no matter what they say

Words can't bring you down 

you are beautiful in every single way

Yes words can't bring you down 

So don't you bring me down today

No matter what we do (No matter what we do)

No matter what we say (No matter what we say)

We're the song inside the tune 

Full of beautiful mistakes

And everywhere we go 

the sun will always shine 

And tomorrow we might awake 

on the other side

'Cause we are beautiful no matter what they say

Yes words won't bring us down 

we are beautiful in every single way

Yes words can't bring us down 

So don't you bring me down today

There are many ways to understand the One who is all, the one who is the Beloved, the Creator, the Oneness, the Christ, the Lord of All. And these names are just a few of the descriptions used to understand the Gospel story told about He who came into the world, the son of man, the redeemer.

Music for many, including this simple mind, helps find a way into that same understanding. This song has always led me to that place with its passion, its conviction and its heartfelt meaning-- words can't bring us down. We are beautiful in every single way--we, the beloved, the Lord's own. Celebrate today.

The Miracle of a Day

"It is the gift of the artist to bring this to us one and all, an ordinary spring day!"

Ordinary Day

Sung by Sarah Mclachlan

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Its not that usual when everything is beautiful
Its just another ordinary miracle today

The sky knows when its time to snow
You don't need to teach a seed to grow
Its just another ordinary miracle today...

Birds in winter have their fling
And always make it home by spring
Its just another ordinary miracle today

When you wake up everyday
Please don't throw your dreams away
Hold them close to your heart
Cause we are all a part
Of the ordinary miracle

Ordinary miracle
Do you want to see a miracle?

Its seems so exceptional
Things just work out after all...

Its just another ordinary miracle today

Here in the northern  hemisphere, at least, there are the definite signs of spring. Even after what, in some parts, has been a mild winter, the grass lightly green, there are still those definitive signs that the season is changing. Around us, the frogs emerging up from their muddy sleep are singing once more; birds, doves, Red Wing blackbirds, and all the native songsters are returning; they drill the morning air with arias of delight.

 The earlier light warms and wakes the trees; their beauty and delight is glistening, renewed for some and the misery of allergies for others; still we marvel, like the lyrics of this song, to what seems to be 'an ordinary miracle today.' Writing about art and spiritual matters, Thomas Merton writes "One of the most neglected areas... is the ability to see the value and the beauty of ordinary things, to come alive to the splendor that is all around us... " It is the gift of the artist to bring this to us one and all, an ordinary spring day!

You Are Beautiful

Lord, you're beautiful

by Rebecca St. James

Lord, you're beautiful

Your face is all that I seek

For when your eyes are on this child

Your grace abounds to me...

Lord please light the lamp

that once burned bright and clear

Replace the lamp of my first love

That burns with holy fear...

I can see your face now

I can feel your grace now

It's all I seek.

A life devoted to clearer seeing and compassionate action is one which is respectful of the dignity of other lives, life in all its forms and variations. Through the eyes of the believer, love, all love is a gift from God. In regarding others, one may know them by their love, by the fruits of their actions; all are encouraged to choose, to seek freely. The world is created for all Creation living under the same great blue skies.