July 26 2009
17th Sunday in Ordinary time.
John 6: 1-15
6After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. 2A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. 3Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. 4Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. 5When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming towards him, Jesus said to Philip, ‘Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?’ 6He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. 7Philip answered him, ‘Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.’ 8One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9‘There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?’ 10Jesus said, ‘Make the people sit down.’ Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. 11Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, ‘Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.’ 13So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. 14When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, ‘This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.’
15 When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
I love the way Jesus never stopped challenging his disciples, often in a way that zeroed in on one disciple’s need to grow and stretch in a particular area. I suppose that means I really love it when he challenges me to grow and stretch in a particular area. Well, yeah, I do – but generally only in retrospect! At the time I’m being challenged it can be quite discombobulating.
We don’t know a lot about Philip and what kind of a guy he was but perhaps he was a man to be concerned about logistics. He was probably quite gifted in quickly sizing up a situation and, on a natural level, being able to see whether things could be handled well with the resources at hand. Any group or organization needs someone like Philip on board to keep life organized, to ascertain the needs of the group and to assign tasks.
These are valuable skills and I have no doubt that Jesus encouraged Philip to practice his skills in the day-to-day lives of the disciples. He may have been the group’s operations manager. Each time he is mentioned in the Gospels, he is taking on a role of quiet leadership. He is one of the first ones to follow after Jesus and firmly tells Nathanial to seek him out.. When some Greeks want to have private conversation with Jesus, they approach Philip first. During the last hours the disciples spend with Jesus, the Lord says, “If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well…” Then Philip says, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." That statement has a slight ring of authority to it. Philip was deciding what would be enough for all of them to understand what Jesus was talking about. Whether or not the rest of the disciples agreed with that is an interesting question...
It would seem in this week’s gospel that Jesus is challenging Philip particularly. It is not Jesus’ intention to deflate Philip or to indicate that Philip’s skills are inadequate or inappropriate. Philip obviously was very quick to understand that not only did they not have the resources to handle a crowd of five thousand, but he also was able to immediately assess what it would take to feed such a crowd. ‘Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little,’ he said to Jesus. But Jesus, knowing exactly what he was going to do, challenged Philip to go beyond his known skills and to open himself to stepping out beyond his comfort zone, beyond what he knew he and the other disciples could naturally handle.
Jesus was definitely not belittling Philip’s lack of vision; he was simply preparing Philip to have his vision of who Jesus was and what he was capable of widened and deepened.
Have any of you ever thought about all the logistics of spontaneously feeding five thousand people and then gathering up all the leftovers? It boggles the mind. I have no doubt that Jesus totally used Philip’s leadership skills to organize everyone to receive, distribute and gather up the remains of God’s immense abundance. Philip’s God-given gifts were used to the max that day while his spiritual walls were pushed beyond what he ever thought possible. No doubt, while he was running around assigning jobs, making sure everyone was doing their duty and seeing that everyone received their fair share of food, he was thinking, “This is so bizarre. This is totally outrageous. This is beyond what I ever thought Jesus would or could do. This is completely beyond what I thought I could do. If he can do all this and give me the capacity to do what I’m doing, he can do anything!”
The Lord deeply values our natural skills, gifts and experience. Why would he not value them? He gave them to us and he created us with all our wonderful abilities. He appreciates it very much when we use what we have to serve him, whether it’s a capacity for leadership or teaching or organization or serving his people or offering a small bit of something that we have even if it seems inadequate. He loves it when we give what we have and offer who we are to him.
But then he challenges us to understand that what we are and what we have and the things we know, once again, are not the end of the story. What really challenges us is that we actually have no ability to conceive of what kind of ending to the story the Lord has in mind. All he asks is that we are open to risking our sense of being in control and let go of thinking we know how the story should end. He asks us to be open to using our gifts and then waiting and watching to see how he will take those gifts and create overflowing abundance. What we have is the seeds of creation and they look nothing like what he can make grow out of these seeds.
You know, it’s kind of sad but so many people offer their skills and gifts to the church but never take them first to Jesus to ask him to use these skills and gifts as raw material for abundant kingdom creation. It has to be an open-ended request in order for the Lord to take us on an adventure of the sort he took the disciples on when he fed the five thousand. Too often we say, “Lord, please use my skills and cause this and this and this to happen.” We have such set in stone expectations and when our desired results don’t happen we get discouraged. We might keep on serving and offering our gifts but little by little our expectations of God’s abundance dwindles.
We need to pray a prayer of risk. “Take what I have and do whatever you want, Lord. It’s your story and you are the author. I just want to go with you wherever you take me.”
Don’t pray this prayer lightly…and be prepared. The Lord loves to travel with risk takers and those who are willing to go one step beyond ordinary.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
It Ain't Easy
July 19th 2009
The apostles 14 gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught.3115 He said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat.32So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place.33People saw them leaving and many came to know about it. They hastened there on foot from all the towns and arrived at the place before them.34When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.
In the homily at Mass this weekend, the priest was speaking on last week's gospel about Jesus sending his apostles out and Jesus sending us out. At one point he said, "It's not easy." A simple statement but it really struck me that it's a statement we need to pay more attention to.
Most of you have probably seen the big red push buttons at Staples' office supplies outlets. You push the button and a voice says, "That was easy." North America is obsessed with making life easy. From technology to lifestyle to financial strategies we are bombarded by the idea that if we're successful, things will get easy. And let's not forget spirituality. There are so many voices out there, new age and otherwise, that promise that if you follow their methods, theologies and ideologies, your life will become easy and your connection with God will be effortless. How many of us have a subconscious expectation that if we are following God's will everything should be easy and peaceful? It is extremely difficult in this society to not have those expectations.
The disciples had just come back from ministering to God's people. They were excited...and drained. They had just spent a period of time being totally dependent on the Father for everything, not only for their own needs but also for the needs of everyone around them. This was their first experience of entering into ministry without Jesus around to reassure them and tell them what to do. It was their first experience of having hands and hearts reaching out and tugging at them, constantly asking for help and relief. You know what? Putting your complete trust in God can be exhausting. It can be a constant struggle to not allow your fears, uncertainties and need for personal space to overwhelm you. It can get somewhat easier as time goes by and you gain experience in God's provision for you and your ministry but it is human nature to be in control and to be tense and anxious if we have to depend on something or someone else. Not being in full control will always be a struggle for us while we're on this earth.
Jesus knew how tired his disciples were. He knew it wasn't only physical exhaustion they suffered from but mental, emotional and spiritual exhaustion as well and he wanted to give them time to recharge the batteries. The demands of the people were so strong they didn't even have time to eat and it's not God's will that anyone become burnt out in his service. But when they arrived at the place Jesus had chosen for them to take some time off they were met by more crowds. At least the disciples saw crowds. What Jesus saw were individuals; he saw people in pain, people grieving, people hungry for truth that didn't burden them with impossible demands, people struggling to be good, people who were confused, people who wanted nothing more than to be told, "You are the Father's Beloved." He knew his disciples were needy but they were not as needy as the crowds facing them. He was filled with compassion. Jesus was, and still is, unable to turn away from the poor, the lost or the wounded.
This was not easy on the disciples. Their hearts must have sunk within them. They may have asked themselves and each other, "Haven't we done enough? We gave all we had to give. Isn't that enough?" It doesn't say so in scripture but I'm willing to bet that the disciples had to learn one more lesson and Jesus knew it. We can never give enough and it isn't easy. I'm also willing to bet that the disciples, as they moved among the crowds of people, discovered they did have more to give. It didn't come from themselves or from their own abundance of energy and faith. It came out of their own poverty.
It may have been their most powerful hour up to that point.
Mothers would have a hard time thinking of themselves as apostles (ones who are sent) and stay at home mothers would have an especially difficult time with this concept. It's hard to feel sent when you rarely get out of the house but the truth is, you have definitely been sent. The moment you were married and children were still only a desire in your heart you were experiencing God sending you. He sent you into the world with your spouse to establish a home church - in the wilderness no less. Often, the demands of children can drain you mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically and still you have to go on feeding and ministering to the crowd. Interesting how even just one small child can feel like a crowd sometimes.
If you are single or married with no children or a mother needing to work to help support the family and you are going out to work each day often at jobs that don't inspire with co-workers who are draining and bosses who are control fiends - you have been sent. God doesn't necessarily expect you to proselytize in the work place or lay hands on the irritating boss and command the evil spirit to leave, but he sends us all into the wilderness of the world to create "white space". In page layout in magazines and on the web etc. white space is an area on the page where there is nothing. The importance of white space is to give the eye a place to rest. Any reader will be overwhelmed by too much information, too many words and too many graphics and fail to discern the message. We Christians need to offer an incredibly busy and chaotic world white space. People are drawn to other people who are calm and grounded, ones who are not seeking to dominate everything and everybody. They are drawn to kindness, integrity, quiet humor and balanced wisdom. If the people you work with and hang out with know you are a Christian, they will be "reading you" all the time. Don't offer them a busy chaotic page to read - offer them white space, a place where their hearts can find rest. Or, if you are more environmentally inclined, offer them "green space". Same thing.
It's not easy. I don't think there's anything you can do to make it really easy. That understanding in itself can be a bit of a relief because we can feel guilty and anxious when the demands on us are overwhelming. We can feel inadequate and we can feel like we must be the only followers of Jesus who are finding things so difficult. A friend of mine told me about sitting at a table with several women at coffee time after Mass and they were talking generally about what a struggle it can be to follow Jesus. Someone asked, "Does it ever get any easier?" Down the table sat an 80+ year old woman who is known to have a peaceful, deep and wonderful spirituality. She leaned over and in her gentle, happy voice said, "No, it doesn't."
And it doesn't seem to bother her at all.
*****
Some of you who are accessing this this blog from the link on the St. Joseph the Worker website (Victoria - sjtw.ca), or were given the blog address by a friend, may not know that I maintain a notification list and when I post a new reflection I send out an email saying so and there is a link directly to the blog in each notification.
If you would like to be on this notification list or if you have any questions or comments you would like to send to me privately, my Manna Gathering email address is: allen.jean55@gmail.com I will add you to my list immediately.
To those of you who have my hotmail address - that address is still active and I can be contacted through that one as well.
The apostles 14 gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught.3115 He said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat.32So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place.33People saw them leaving and many came to know about it. They hastened there on foot from all the towns and arrived at the place before them.34When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.
In the homily at Mass this weekend, the priest was speaking on last week's gospel about Jesus sending his apostles out and Jesus sending us out. At one point he said, "It's not easy." A simple statement but it really struck me that it's a statement we need to pay more attention to.
Most of you have probably seen the big red push buttons at Staples' office supplies outlets. You push the button and a voice says, "That was easy." North America is obsessed with making life easy. From technology to lifestyle to financial strategies we are bombarded by the idea that if we're successful, things will get easy. And let's not forget spirituality. There are so many voices out there, new age and otherwise, that promise that if you follow their methods, theologies and ideologies, your life will become easy and your connection with God will be effortless. How many of us have a subconscious expectation that if we are following God's will everything should be easy and peaceful? It is extremely difficult in this society to not have those expectations.
The disciples had just come back from ministering to God's people. They were excited...and drained. They had just spent a period of time being totally dependent on the Father for everything, not only for their own needs but also for the needs of everyone around them. This was their first experience of entering into ministry without Jesus around to reassure them and tell them what to do. It was their first experience of having hands and hearts reaching out and tugging at them, constantly asking for help and relief. You know what? Putting your complete trust in God can be exhausting. It can be a constant struggle to not allow your fears, uncertainties and need for personal space to overwhelm you. It can get somewhat easier as time goes by and you gain experience in God's provision for you and your ministry but it is human nature to be in control and to be tense and anxious if we have to depend on something or someone else. Not being in full control will always be a struggle for us while we're on this earth.
Jesus knew how tired his disciples were. He knew it wasn't only physical exhaustion they suffered from but mental, emotional and spiritual exhaustion as well and he wanted to give them time to recharge the batteries. The demands of the people were so strong they didn't even have time to eat and it's not God's will that anyone become burnt out in his service. But when they arrived at the place Jesus had chosen for them to take some time off they were met by more crowds. At least the disciples saw crowds. What Jesus saw were individuals; he saw people in pain, people grieving, people hungry for truth that didn't burden them with impossible demands, people struggling to be good, people who were confused, people who wanted nothing more than to be told, "You are the Father's Beloved." He knew his disciples were needy but they were not as needy as the crowds facing them. He was filled with compassion. Jesus was, and still is, unable to turn away from the poor, the lost or the wounded.
This was not easy on the disciples. Their hearts must have sunk within them. They may have asked themselves and each other, "Haven't we done enough? We gave all we had to give. Isn't that enough?" It doesn't say so in scripture but I'm willing to bet that the disciples had to learn one more lesson and Jesus knew it. We can never give enough and it isn't easy. I'm also willing to bet that the disciples, as they moved among the crowds of people, discovered they did have more to give. It didn't come from themselves or from their own abundance of energy and faith. It came out of their own poverty.
It may have been their most powerful hour up to that point.
Mothers would have a hard time thinking of themselves as apostles (ones who are sent) and stay at home mothers would have an especially difficult time with this concept. It's hard to feel sent when you rarely get out of the house but the truth is, you have definitely been sent. The moment you were married and children were still only a desire in your heart you were experiencing God sending you. He sent you into the world with your spouse to establish a home church - in the wilderness no less. Often, the demands of children can drain you mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically and still you have to go on feeding and ministering to the crowd. Interesting how even just one small child can feel like a crowd sometimes.
If you are single or married with no children or a mother needing to work to help support the family and you are going out to work each day often at jobs that don't inspire with co-workers who are draining and bosses who are control fiends - you have been sent. God doesn't necessarily expect you to proselytize in the work place or lay hands on the irritating boss and command the evil spirit to leave, but he sends us all into the wilderness of the world to create "white space". In page layout in magazines and on the web etc. white space is an area on the page where there is nothing. The importance of white space is to give the eye a place to rest. Any reader will be overwhelmed by too much information, too many words and too many graphics and fail to discern the message. We Christians need to offer an incredibly busy and chaotic world white space. People are drawn to other people who are calm and grounded, ones who are not seeking to dominate everything and everybody. They are drawn to kindness, integrity, quiet humor and balanced wisdom. If the people you work with and hang out with know you are a Christian, they will be "reading you" all the time. Don't offer them a busy chaotic page to read - offer them white space, a place where their hearts can find rest. Or, if you are more environmentally inclined, offer them "green space". Same thing.
It's not easy. I don't think there's anything you can do to make it really easy. That understanding in itself can be a bit of a relief because we can feel guilty and anxious when the demands on us are overwhelming. We can feel inadequate and we can feel like we must be the only followers of Jesus who are finding things so difficult. A friend of mine told me about sitting at a table with several women at coffee time after Mass and they were talking generally about what a struggle it can be to follow Jesus. Someone asked, "Does it ever get any easier?" Down the table sat an 80+ year old woman who is known to have a peaceful, deep and wonderful spirituality. She leaned over and in her gentle, happy voice said, "No, it doesn't."
And it doesn't seem to bother her at all.
*****
Some of you who are accessing this this blog from the link on the St. Joseph the Worker website (Victoria - sjtw.ca), or were given the blog address by a friend, may not know that I maintain a notification list and when I post a new reflection I send out an email saying so and there is a link directly to the blog in each notification.
If you would like to be on this notification list or if you have any questions or comments you would like to send to me privately, my Manna Gathering email address is: allen.jean55@gmail.com I will add you to my list immediately.
To those of you who have my hotmail address - that address is still active and I can be contacted through that one as well.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Traveling Light
My apologies...I am not at home this week and I don't have at my fingertips the references for this week's readings. I did have them written down but I think they got recycled this morning. The Gospel is the story of Jesus sending his disciples out two by two, telling them they could take a pair of sandals and a staff but no bread or money or a bag. He sent them out with power to begin ministering to the Jews in the way only he had been doing up until that point...
There's an old saying that goes, "God does not call the equipped; he equips the called."
The first reading this Sunday is from Amos who was a shepherd and a farmer. God called him to prophesy to Israel but he didn't consider himself a prophet. "I am no prophet or a prophet's son; but I am a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore trees and the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, "Go, prophesy to my people Israel." Then, in the Gospel, Jesus sent out his disciples in pairs and directed them to take very few possessions with them. I strongly doubt that Amos felt equipped to speak the word of God or that any of the disciples felt like they were ready to go out and prophesy, preach or heal and cast out devils. Jesus knew this. He wasn't being overly optimistic about their capabilities, nor was he being obtuse. He was teaching them all, and us as well, something extremely important. God doesn't use you and send you because you're highly trained or full of self confidence or because it's right down your alley in terms of the talents you possess. It's not because you're rich in capability or rich in resources. He actually prefers to send the ones who have very little.
When we feel completely confident that we know what we're doing and that we know how it should all go, the job may end up to be efficiently done, all loose ends tidied up and all goals successfully attained but often there are some things missing: Life. Power. Joy. Creative growth. Reconciliation within the community. A renewed vision of who the Lord is and who we are. When we feel the Lord calling us to do something, the very first thing we should do is reflect on this week's Gospel and begin to see what possessions we need to lose before we head out with the Lord to participate in his will.
When we hear the word 'possessions', what always springs to mind? All the material goods we own. Some of us own a lot and some of us not as much but no doubt all of us feel a pang when we think the Lord might like us to lose some of these possessions in order to be good disciples. The idea of simplifying our material goods becomes overwhelming and complex. Yes, it's true that sometimes our possessions own us and take up more of our focus than is healthy or necessary but the material goods we own are not the only possessions we have. In fact, I would say for most of us our material possessions are the least of our problems. It's those other possessions we have that block us from opening up to God's love and his will for our lives.
What possessions am I talking about? What are these other things that we lay claim to, hold tightly to and and which end up restricting, owning and controlling us more than we own and control them?
How about opinions? Don't we all have a huge number of set in stone preferences that, when challenged, make us stubbornly and angrily dig in our feet and refuse to be moved?
What about past wounds? Certainly the Lord is compassionate toward his wounded people, but there are times when we want to hold on to our wounds and allow them to tell us what we will or won't do.
What about control? We all have a need to be in control and have everything go according to what makes us comfortable or according to how we've always done things. Who doesn't have any areas where it's "my way or the highway"?
And what about those teachings we have received which somehow got twisted around to become rigid stances that keep us from the softness of acceptance, love and compassion?
I'll never forget running into an older woman whom I had not seen for a few years. When I had known her before she was Lioness for God. She was a deeply spiritual woman and a very good woman but if anyone did anything that contradicted one of her spiritual principles, she could be quite harsh. When I saw her again I asked what she had been up to in the last while. She told me that against her natural inclinations she had become involved in Hospice. The one thing she couldn't handle was dying people but after her husband's death her doctor heavily pressured her to become involved in the Hospice Association. The thing about Hospice is you are not allowed to proselytize. If the person you are ministering to wants to talk about God that's fine. Otherwise you may not bring up religion at all. This forced her to love without boundaries, accept without limitations and listen without offering judgment or advice. She said to me, "It took me 64 years to find out that love is more important than doctrine." Her face was shining and softer than I had ever seen it. She looked like Jesus.
We can be quite possessive about our doctrines and our theologies.
Indeed, whenever God sends us out to share his good news or to offer healing and love to one or more of his people, we often head out loaded to the max with such heavy restricting possessions that it's a wonder we can move at all. They're awkward, heavy, burdensome, bothersome and they deplete all our energies. No wonder Jesus sent out the disciples equipped with so little. He was freeing them to move. He was gifting them with the joy of being able to immediately respond to the leading of the Father. He was showing them the "Light Way". They had nothing to depend on except the Lord. Don't forget that those disciples came back from that journey flying high; they couldn't believe all the wonderful things God did and how he allowed them the honor of participating in his power and grace.
They had been freed to dance with God.
May we all be so blessed.
There's an old saying that goes, "God does not call the equipped; he equips the called."
The first reading this Sunday is from Amos who was a shepherd and a farmer. God called him to prophesy to Israel but he didn't consider himself a prophet. "I am no prophet or a prophet's son; but I am a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore trees and the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, "Go, prophesy to my people Israel." Then, in the Gospel, Jesus sent out his disciples in pairs and directed them to take very few possessions with them. I strongly doubt that Amos felt equipped to speak the word of God or that any of the disciples felt like they were ready to go out and prophesy, preach or heal and cast out devils. Jesus knew this. He wasn't being overly optimistic about their capabilities, nor was he being obtuse. He was teaching them all, and us as well, something extremely important. God doesn't use you and send you because you're highly trained or full of self confidence or because it's right down your alley in terms of the talents you possess. It's not because you're rich in capability or rich in resources. He actually prefers to send the ones who have very little.
When we feel completely confident that we know what we're doing and that we know how it should all go, the job may end up to be efficiently done, all loose ends tidied up and all goals successfully attained but often there are some things missing: Life. Power. Joy. Creative growth. Reconciliation within the community. A renewed vision of who the Lord is and who we are. When we feel the Lord calling us to do something, the very first thing we should do is reflect on this week's Gospel and begin to see what possessions we need to lose before we head out with the Lord to participate in his will.
When we hear the word 'possessions', what always springs to mind? All the material goods we own. Some of us own a lot and some of us not as much but no doubt all of us feel a pang when we think the Lord might like us to lose some of these possessions in order to be good disciples. The idea of simplifying our material goods becomes overwhelming and complex. Yes, it's true that sometimes our possessions own us and take up more of our focus than is healthy or necessary but the material goods we own are not the only possessions we have. In fact, I would say for most of us our material possessions are the least of our problems. It's those other possessions we have that block us from opening up to God's love and his will for our lives.
What possessions am I talking about? What are these other things that we lay claim to, hold tightly to and and which end up restricting, owning and controlling us more than we own and control them?
How about opinions? Don't we all have a huge number of set in stone preferences that, when challenged, make us stubbornly and angrily dig in our feet and refuse to be moved?
What about past wounds? Certainly the Lord is compassionate toward his wounded people, but there are times when we want to hold on to our wounds and allow them to tell us what we will or won't do.
What about control? We all have a need to be in control and have everything go according to what makes us comfortable or according to how we've always done things. Who doesn't have any areas where it's "my way or the highway"?
And what about those teachings we have received which somehow got twisted around to become rigid stances that keep us from the softness of acceptance, love and compassion?
I'll never forget running into an older woman whom I had not seen for a few years. When I had known her before she was Lioness for God. She was a deeply spiritual woman and a very good woman but if anyone did anything that contradicted one of her spiritual principles, she could be quite harsh. When I saw her again I asked what she had been up to in the last while. She told me that against her natural inclinations she had become involved in Hospice. The one thing she couldn't handle was dying people but after her husband's death her doctor heavily pressured her to become involved in the Hospice Association. The thing about Hospice is you are not allowed to proselytize. If the person you are ministering to wants to talk about God that's fine. Otherwise you may not bring up religion at all. This forced her to love without boundaries, accept without limitations and listen without offering judgment or advice. She said to me, "It took me 64 years to find out that love is more important than doctrine." Her face was shining and softer than I had ever seen it. She looked like Jesus.
We can be quite possessive about our doctrines and our theologies.
Indeed, whenever God sends us out to share his good news or to offer healing and love to one or more of his people, we often head out loaded to the max with such heavy restricting possessions that it's a wonder we can move at all. They're awkward, heavy, burdensome, bothersome and they deplete all our energies. No wonder Jesus sent out the disciples equipped with so little. He was freeing them to move. He was gifting them with the joy of being able to immediately respond to the leading of the Father. He was showing them the "Light Way". They had nothing to depend on except the Lord. Don't forget that those disciples came back from that journey flying high; they couldn't believe all the wonderful things God did and how he allowed them the honor of participating in his power and grace.
They had been freed to dance with God.
May we all be so blessed.
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