It only works if you are moving

From the book Impermanence – Embracing Change
by David Hodge and Hi-Jin Hodge
(Snow Lion Publications, Ithaca, NY 2008)

“Almost everything in life is a little bit like skiing. It doesn’t really work if you are standing still. It only works if you are moving. One of the things about moving and skiing is that you are never really in control. I’m never in control. You have to be okay with being a little bit out of control and find a balance that you can keep up as long as you can and still be out of control enough so you keep going down the hill. Being aware that change is going to happen whether I like it or not, I can choose to go with it or I can try to not go with it, but it’s going to take me anyway.”

Questions

"There are some questions that can't be answered by Google."

~ church sign

Non-violence attracts violence

Non-violence attracts violence.
Suffering violence erodes the attacker's moral authority.
Unearned suffering is redemptive.

~ author unknown

Our Choices

"It is not our abilities that show us who we are. It is our choices."
Dumbledore, to Harry Potter

Thine enemies will give feigned obedience to Thee

Psalm 66 ^NASB
1 Shout joyfully to God, all the earth;
² Sing the glory of His name; Make His praise glorious.
³ Say to God, "How awesome are Thy works! Because of the greatness of Thy power Thine enemies will give feigned obedience to Thee.
⁴ "All the earth will worship Thee, And will sing praises to Thee; They will sing praises to Thy name."
⁵ Come and see the works of God, Who is awesome in His deeds toward the sons of men.

Embodying Forgiveness

"Forgiveness is not so much a word spoken, an action performed, or a feeling felt as it is an embodied way of life in an ever-deepening friendship with the triune God and with others. As such, a Christian account of forgiveness ought not to simply or even primarily be focused on an absolution of guilt; rather, it ought to be focused on the reconciliation of brokenness, the restoration of communion—with God, with one another, and with the whole Creation. Indeed, because of the pervasiveness of sin and evil, Christian forgiveness must be at once an expression of commitment to a way of life, the cruciform life of holiness in which we seek to "unlearn" sin and learn the ways of God, and a means of seeking reconciliation in the midst of particular sins, specific instances of brokenness."

~ Gregory Jones, former dean of Duke Divinity School, Embodying Forgiveness

Listening

"The first service one owes to others in community involves listening to them. Just as our love for God begins with listening to God's Word, the beginning of love for other Christians is learning to listen to them …. Christians who can no longer listen to one another will soon no longer be listening to God either; they will always be talking even in the presence of God. The death of the spiritual life starts here, and in the end there is nothing left but empty spiritual chatter and clerical condescension which chokes on pious words."

~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

Forgiving Love

"Forgiving love is a possibility only for those who know that they are not good, who feel themselves in need of divine mercy, who live in a dimension deeper and higher than that of moral idealism, feel themselves as well as their fellow men convicted of sin by a holy God and know that the differences between the good man and the bad man are insignificant in his sight."

~ Reinhold Niebuhr, An Interpretation of Christian Ethics

Peace

"Peace is both the absence of war and the creation of positive social conditions which minimize destructive conflicts and promote human well-being."

~ author unknown

Dostoyevsky Quotes

Dostoyevsky Quotes:

“Love a man, even in his sin, for that love is a likeness of the divine love, and is the summit of love on earth”

“If God does not exist, then everything is permitted”

“What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love”

“The soul is healed by being with children”

Joy and Hope

http://www.ptsem.edu/PUBLICATIONS/inspire/12.2/interactive3.php

Following is my experience seeing God’s presence in worship bringing joy in another culture—that of Alzheimer’s patients. Residents with Alzheimer’s can take great joy in singing their old favorite hymns and saying the 23rd Psalm and the Lord’s Prayer. These beloved words bring reassurance, comfort, and hope. As chaplain at Spring Mill Presbyterian Village, I’ve learned that the earliest memories are among the last to be forgotten at the end of life. It is very important to teach children the Word of God that can sustain them during challenging times in their future.

Also, God’s presence in worship brings joy and hope to us. Although we come from diverse backgrounds, cities, and denominations, we are accepted and united by the one God who creates, redeems, and sustains us. Jesus invites all of us to the Lord’s Supper together.

B. Gail Simons (M.Div., 2005)
Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania

Vows and Convictions

George W. Bush, Decision Points, 2010
conclusion:

“Decades from now, I hope people will view me as a president who recognized the central challenge of our time and kept my vow to keep the country safe; who pursued my convictions without wavering but changed course when necessary; who trusted individuals to make choices in their lives; and who used America’s influence to advance freedom.”

two kinds of religion

Campaign Dogma 2010: Religion and Politics = God and Country
David Gibson
Religion Reporter
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/10/30/campaign-dogma-
2010-religion-and-politics-god-and-country/

One of Minnesota's many notable and quotable politicians, the late Sen. Eugene McCarthy, once said that in Washington only two kinds of religion are permitted: strong beliefs vaguely expressed, or vague beliefs strongly expressed.

The Best Treatment for Loneliness

Dr. Karl Menninger, the famous American psychiatrist, once gave a lecture on mental health & was answering questions from the audience.
One man asked, "What would you advise a person to do if that person felt a nervous breakdown coming on?" Everyone there expected him to answer, "Consult a psychiatrist."
To their astonishment he replied: Leave your house, go across the railroad tracks, find someone who is in need, and do something to help that person.

I am of the Divine Whole

Rumi, a Persian poet:

I am neither a Muslim nor a Hindu
I am not Christian, Zoroastrian, nor Jew
I am neither of the West nor the East
Not of the ocean, nor an earthly beast
I am neither a natural wonder
Nor from the stars yonder
My place is the no-place
My image is without face
Neither of body nor the soul
I am of the Divine Whole.
I eliminated duality with joyous laughter
Saw the unity of here and the hereafter
Unity is what I sing, unity is what I speak
Unity is what I know, unity is what I seek

smile 'cause it happened

"Don't cry 'cause it is over - smile 'cause it happened."

~ Dr. Theodor Seuss Geisel

"I am a Christian by choice," Obama began ...

Obama questioned on abortion, why he is a Christian
From Suzanne Malveaux, CNN White House Correspondent
September 28, 2010 3:06 p.m. EDT
Albuquerque, New Mexico (CNN)
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/09/28/
obama.tough.question/index.html?hpt=T2

An event billed as a discussion on the economy turned personal Tuesday when a woman asked President Barack Obama about his Christian faith and views on abortion.

The question came at a town hall-style meeting in the yard of an Albuquerque home as part of Obama's public outreach to explain his policies and campaign for Democrats in the November congressional elections.

With a recent survey showing that only a third of Americans can correctly identify Obama as a Christian, the president gave a personal account of his conversion as an adult and how his public service is part of his faith.

"I am a Christian by choice," Obama began, standing beneath a blazing sun, when asked why he is a Christian.

"I came to my Christian faith later in life, and it was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead," Obama said. "Being my brothers' and sisters' keeper. Treating others as they would treat me. And I think also understanding that, you know, that Jesus Christ dying for my sins spoke to the humility that we all have to have as human beings."

Humans are "sinful" and "flawed" beings that make mistakes and "achieve salvation through the grace of God," the president continued, adding that we also can "see God in other people and do our best to help them find their, you know, their own grace."

"So that's what I strive to do," Obama said. "That's what I pray to do everyday. I think my public service is part of that effort to express my Christian faith."

At the same time, Obama emphasized his belief that freedom of religion is "part of the bedrock strength" of the United States.

"This is a country that is still predominantly Christian, but we have Jews, Muslims, Hindus, atheists, agnostics, Buddhists" and others, he said, adding that "their own path to grace is one that we have to revere and respect as much as our own, and that is part of what makes this country what it is."

etc.

Telling what you are not going to do

"I remember from [Wharton MBA] strategy class that the heart of strategy is being able to tell what you're not going to do. Telling what you're going to do is easy but telling what you are not going to do--like when you're going to say no to your customer--is much harder."

~ Denis Benchimol Minev, WG'03
Wharton Magazine, Summer 2010, p. 30

No Barriers

There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.

~ Ronald Reagan

The Christian Ideal

“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting;
it has been found difficult and left untried!”

~ G. K. Chesterton