Category Archives: Power vs Love
Questions for Believers
What is the difference between saved and loved? Does being saved mean being finished? Is the Bible the Word of God or is Jesus the Word of God fleshed out for us?
Was Jesus making choices to love more and more people other than his own religion and nationality, even the Roman enemy, a major part of Being the Word of God? Is the WAY of Jesus’ life and willingness to love even those that killed him supposed to be the WAY of Christian’s lives? Did Jesus love unconditionally? Does God love unconditionally? Do we?
What is the difference between need and love?
Could our life journey from the neediness of a baby be a process of becoming able to love unconditionally? Does loving our neighbor mean only loving others whom we know and who are like us? Does loving Jesus mean we get to be rich? What did Jesus say about the rich man? Are our heroes rich? Are they kind? Are they like Jesus?
If, as he was dying, Hitler recognized the horrors he had caused and was stricken with sorrow and regret, would God forgive him?
Is our Spiritual journey more than following a set of ten rules basic to the survival of humans living together? In fact, are the Beatitudes the challenges that Jesus gave us for our adult Spiritual journey to loving BOTH ourselves AND others unconditionally, because Jesus fleshed out the unconditional love of God for all?
Do you love all your children even when they fail, hurt you, and abandon you?
Does God?
Have you ever failed God?
The Broken Body of Christ
OUCH!
The Power of the Cross
Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and purpose.
Christ sends us to proclaim the gospel simply, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.
For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.
Jesus died and rose for all, but many want a savior who is about power for this world, this life.
The power of the cross is the resurrection, which shows us that this life is not all there is.
The power of the cross is that it is the ultimate expression of unconditional love for us imperfect, unfinished people.
The power of the cross can free us to die to our self-centeredness, our self-righteousness, our false sense of superiority, our judgmental spirit, our delusion of infallibility. These are the mindsets that twist our belief that we belong to the people of God into the blinding sin of pride. The power of the love of God expressed in dying on the cross can free us from our blind spots of pride, so we can become peacemakers.
The Broken Body by Eileen
Reflecting on the Body
You, the hand, I, the foot
Christ, the head, perhaps the heart
Someone else, the hidden part,
I let the scriptures
Flood my mind with images.
Then suddenly one image
Is so harshly real,
I gasp aloud.
I see a person staggering
And stumbling toward me,
Arms flailing, head jerking
Back and forth in spasms,
Body parts all pulling
Different ways.
This then – reality
Christ’s earthly body now.
Forgive us! Eileen
OUCH!
We Come Like the Shepherds to Jesus
What does the prayer “Jesus, come and be born in my heart?” imply?
Who first witnessed His coming? Shepherds…….not Kings. If we try to imagine being one of them, what would we be like? Poor obviously, politically powerless, without social status, accepting of physical hardship, called to put the wellbeing of defenseless sheep ahead of our own comfort, but being part of a band of brothers who share this vulnerability and commitment, and who one night are suddenly awestruck by a “charged” atmosphere full of significance around a vulnerable baby and its tired, worried, helpless parents. Those are the hearts that are open to Jesus. When we pray, “Come Lord Jesus, be born in our hearts,” we admit our vulnerability, our neediness, our call to protect and support God’s helpless ones, and our dependency on mutual support. To me this prayer describes both our own situation and our call together through openness to Jesus, as both our Savior and Lord. This is the heart of religion. This is Spirituality. And this is the call of the church. Are we listening?
Motivation
Here’s my take on motivation in life:
Greed gives the illusion of importance.
Importance brings the possibility of power.
Power is about control.
Because control fosters the illusion of safety.
And we all, even women, want safety for ourselves and our loved ones.
Sometimes, without realizing it, we make faith about our need to feel safe.
But the journey of Jesus, who calls us to follow him, was not about safety,
It was about love and ultimately even about love for our enemies.
“There are these three: Faith, hope and love. And the greatest of these is Love.”
Laughter: Carbonated Grace 