. . . the fruit of the Spirit is
love
joy
peace
patience
kindness
goodness
faithfulness
gentleness
and self-control.
There is no law (Jewish Law) against such things.

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." 

This is the first commandment.

The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 

There is no other commandment greater than these.

Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue;

and to virtue knowledge;

and to knowledge temperance;

and to temperance patience;

and to patience godliness;

and to godliness brotherly kindness;

and to brotherly kindness charity.

For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

living water

I am made in the image of God, not your image of God.

Jesus invites us to be part of the solution not a part of the problem.

Last week we talked about how apathy can be a part of the problem.

And to day Jesus invites us to encounter this question: what if?

What if the saving of the world would come through our ability to serve others?

What if the saving of the world would come about by our selfless acts of grace and compassion for one another?

What if we can save the world by encountering humanity just as it is and embracing it and calling to its better self?

What if you and I have been called to a much higher purpose than anyone of us ever believed in past times: that we've been called to serve others, and that by serving others, we might actually be serving God?

What if?

I don't know about you, but sometimes it feels so easy to bury our heads in the sand. Sometimes it is easy to bury ourselves in our own lives and our own complications and our own systems, but what if Jesus was calling us beyond ourself, beyond our selfishness, beyond the notion of me, me, me, and calling us to a place where we might be able to serve one another with those acts of compassion and kindness?

And that's another cool thing our Senior Pastor told us.

PROGRAM LISTINGS & PROGRAM SCHEDULES

An Extraordinary Adventure

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Does a rose compete with the spread of daisies at its feet, or does it just bloom? Is the sun jealous of the moon for the fields of lovers it swoons, or does it just shine? Does a fish forsake its swim for a home in the tree, because a snake brags of its reach to a peach? What does a toad think? Where does a stone sink? Why does a bird fly? Who would you rather be when released from the corner to just be?

In 20 episodes we journeyed through 18 spectacular sectors of our Reconnection Grid, examining each sector with every sense of our being and capacity of our minds, exploring the true nature of authentic love (not emotional bosh) - love! A soul force. Who-ah!

We've found nothing greater.

At each sector we beheld love's unique character, its attributes, its grit; what it values. So huge love is - so awesome, so compelling, so engrossing, so expansive, so inclusive, we traversed revealed heights and breaths and depths by which means we were able to explore the true nature of our authentic self, and the revealed intention of love's Designer - Our Divine Creator - Love - the supreme force.

There is none greater.

Who-ah!

We are now not the same as when we began. We shall never again be the same. This effort has stretched and strengthened us in ways beyond our imagining. A veil is removed. Our sights are renewed! Reunited - heart, mind, soul and spirit - each of us has a new vision, authentic to our core; a newer understanding revelatory of our truth; a new beginning - wide open as the sea.

Indeed, love is the most powerful flexible influential force to have ever been revealed or discovered. To us! By us! Yes, Love! Divine magnificence. Everlasting wisdom. Supreme buoyancy.

And here we are. The stage is set! Arise!

Faith-Hope-Love remains

"They thought they buried us; they didn't know we were seeds."

You've heard it said of garuda and of gandaberunda, even in like manner of paskunji, of fenghuang, of hō-ō, of simurgh, of Me byi karmo, yes, the phoenix, sourced in sundry nations for its rejuvinating power; that it rises from its ashes, from the depths of its burial, to soar, exalted!

So resplendent its glory, Shakespeare's King Henry the Eighth said of his young daughter Elizabeth, destined to be Queen Elizabeth the First, this:

We have seen this phoenix - legendary myth - come alive in its flight through living narratives of siblings and strangers, of allies and friends, of nations.

And yet, far greater, by very far, are seeds - venerable truth - planted in the psyche of every child birthed by grace of The Almighty: transformative faith, audacious hope, undying love - and the greatest of these is love. Arise!

"I am the door. If anyone enters through Me, that one will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.   The thief does not come, except to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." Jesus, son of a carpenter, speaker of parables, problem-solver.

We are surrounded by a huge crowd of witnesses. Let us toss aside every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with patience, with endurance, in faith, the race set before us.

Arise! Soar!

Who made the mountains? Who made the trees? Who made the rivers flow to the sea? Who sends the rain when the earth is dry? Who made the flowers to bloom in the spring? Who made the song for the robins to sing? Who hung the moon in the starry sky? Yes, all that and way much more! Divine Doctor. Opened our chest. Fixed our heart. Healed each wound. Sealed each part. Don't string puppets!

What do you need to bloom?

Being fully functional and wholly human!

The GREATEST of these is LOVE.

"Love is an active, accountable, responsible 'being' that makes decisions reflective of its authentic self."

Oh, Glory! This love is brilliant. All powerful. Omnipresent! A bonding agent! Love is! Yes. Bold. Unbowed. Embracing. Unbending. A Super Power, this love is. Infinite in its capacity. Everlasting in its duration. Not arrogant nor disdainful nor snobbish nor pompous nor condescending. It is an engaging love. It is an inclusive love. It does not parlay favors nor barter in currencies of guilt and shame. It does not submit to convenience. It liberates.

Faith, hope, love remains, but the greatest of these is LOVE. The air is cleared, the seed is being nourished, Dare To Be You.

What was your discovery? Share!

"Knowledge that takes you not beyond yourself is far worse than ignorance." Elif Shafak.

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Something To Consider

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You are

What POWER!