Deeply Resented and the Beatitudes

"ask and you will receive; knock and the door will open to you; see so that you may believe."

There are phrases that the people of the West have heard so often until they're trite. They have become  caricatures, without specific meaning.
Yet the Bible tells us the Christ did say them, did instruct by them, and the Christ Way consists of them and others. For Jesus, the Christ, they were the new thinking, the way to lead from God, the Father.
So today, instead of sentences, the Simple Mind writes here mostly in phrases, ideas actually. These are some of the most essential of all the Christ's teachings, thoughts for all true disciples to strive towards.

First of all, the Good News tells us that we must ask; we are required to ask. Asking is part of listening and listening is a critical part of the voluntaries often called 'free will.' So we must ask--ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you; see so that you may believe.
The reluctance to heed these commandments for those persons who do not, gives an indication that they may well be some one who wishes to be seen as taking either the socially superior or inferior position.
Thus the person who for example, insists on always giving but not receiving, refusing even, is at the same time someone who will not allow the balance to be restored or maintained by reciprocity. They refuse to balance between giver and receiver.

Only when there are both givers and receivers, often one in the same, can a community be established; without this balance, deep resentment often arises between giver and receiver. The Christ recognizes this; he refuses to be caught on this point. Instead, he commands his disciples to think and to behave in the way of love for one another; so feed the hungry; give them drink; clothe the naked; be kind to the stranger; visit the sick or those in prison; bury the dead. Be merciful as your Father in heaven is merciful.

And there is the ongoing spiritual work that the Christ calls his disciples to-- correcting those in error; educating the ignorant; counseling those in doubt or confusion; comfort for those in sorrow; bearing wrongs patiently; forgiving the wrongs done by others; pray for the living and the dead, unceasingly.

And again, numerous times the Christ reminds aspiring disciples, of just this-- if you love me, you will keep my commandments; love one another as I have loved you; the greatest commandment is love.

A Simple Song, Lent and After

That's What Matters

by Rebecca St. James

Listen Here

...Don't wish for a better day

Be glad and use the one you're in

Fear God and do exactly what He says

That's what matters

All else fades like the flowers

Well, he'd tried pleasure

There was nothing in that

He built houses, gardens, parks

What good did it do?

Just got him more depressed

Meaningless - Meaningless

He said "Everything's meaningless

But this is what I learned in all my years...

Many of us hear the word religion and all kinds of thoughts and reactions arise. We tend to make it complicated, intellectual, even. We like to think it isn't about politics, it's about god; it isn't about society, it's about spirituality, and so on. Well, it is about all these things, and some more. 

It's simple, really. Religion in another view is about lives, human lives living day to day. We all have thoughts, feelings and relationships. What and how we think about ourselves and the world which we are part of, vastly influences the style and quality of that human existence. So religion need not be icky or avoidable, because it's just about life. And all of us have some experience with that (Currently many are observing the Easter traditions: see Ash Wednesday: Lent in two minutes, a video.).

So a little help from others may just be what makes a community; for some, it sure makes an opening for a spiritual experience, like this song. Do we need to have an organ playing a dirge song to have a religious experience, do bells need to ring or incense waft upward? In my experience, I have discovered that most often I get out of something more or less what I put into it.

If a church, temple or community doesn't move me, then maybe I haven't given much of myself. Maybe my pre-existing notions circumvent me from connecting. Sure, I didn't get anything out of it; I'm just not. But what else did I expect? Nothing gets nothing.

Can our everyday coming and goings be a small part of the whole of life? If so, then this and many other songs may too. They touch us in some meaningful way. A simple song can create an awareness, an appreciation that we had not the sense of before. It's all religion, and like an artist, it's a part of my day. Everyday.

Now the Lenten period has concluded; Easter, the principle observance on the Christian calendar, has come and that leaves us at Pentecost, the Feast of the Weeks.
Pentecost is an ancient observance. At this time we reflect on the wonders of the Holy Spirit who descends upon the disciples, as we read in the Bible and the Faithful bringing his spirit upon them. Exodus 34:22 In Exodus, there is reference to this festival, though it has not yet taken on the character of the later era known by the early Christians.