. . . 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.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have EVERLASTING LIFE.

 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to SAVE THE WORLD through Him.

Whoever believes in Him is NOT CONDEMNED, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son."

. . . .

whatsoever things are true,

whatsoever things are honest,

whatsoever things are just,

whatsoever things are pure,

whatsoever things are lovely,

whatsoever things are of good report;

if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. 

Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

living water

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

Oh Love that will not let me go! May we experience that love.

PRAYER

Gracious and Loving and Holy One, You who invite us into your presence and we who respond with hearts and minds opened to the recieving of grace love, envelope us in this sacred space this day that we might not only know your love, but feel your presence with us bursting forth, bringing good news and life to the world.

Open our hearts, our minds, so that we might be hearers and doers of your word, that our lives might make a difference this day and in the days to come.

So Holy Spirit bless us.

Speak truth to us and in that truth help us in the setting free of those who are left out.

And that's a cool prayer our Senior Pastor prayed.

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An Extraordinary Adventure

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The law of gravity is as true to the feather as it is to the stone; as fair to the fawn as it is to the fowl, as real to the aligator as it is to an ant, as revealing to the monkey as it is to a cow, as available to the genius as it is to a fool; a law, flawless, if law it is at all, within which any or all of humanity rise, remain unmoved, or fall. Gravity!

On this short climb to the top of blood-stained Golgotha to explore what really happened there, questions are swirling. Atop this very hill - face to face - they killed Jesus! We pause on this ridge, vicariously, as it were to be, to become, to taste and see, to hear and smell, to touch and feel as it was on that day in those hours 2,000 years ago, but we will not stay here.

On that day, the day a crowd looked at the condemned Jesus - in his face - and shouted, "crucify him, crucify him, crucify him," the telescope was not yet invented. Neither was the microphone nor our oiled engines nor any computer chip! Not even Chips Ahoy!

This world's first telescope was created by Hans Lippersley in 1608, and first used astronomically by Galileo in 1610.

On that momentous day, the day Jesus was hammered to a cross and murdered by order of law, at the demand of religious zealots and political opportunists and money launderers, the planets in our celestial backyard as they are revealed to us today were as yet not known to those self-righteous mockers clamoring to satisfy their insatiable cruelty; were as yet not known to fearful cowards who let them by; were as yet not known to wafflers confused by the logic of their baffling faith. Indeed, who is this Jesus that they wanted him dead?

Yet even they - them all - with their naked eyes, if they but look up, could have beheld Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, along with the Moon and the Sun, if they understood what they were watching, but not until 1781 at the pressed curiosity of a few, was it that all of our planetary neighbors began to be uncovered and reported. Our neighbors were not hidden; we just did not know how to see them. And we are yet to visit them all.

To this day, we see through a glass, darkly. And drive by!

It would take another 100 years beyond those blurry glimpses for the light bulb to be, as it were, "invented," and another 30 years upon that for plastic to be proclaimed one of the greatest inventions of human kind. Hmm? Interesting.

Take a stroll around your home. Cast your eyes around if you may; see how much of what you own, of what you use, of what you depend upon, of which your life would be most miserable without, was in existence as it now is when the hill we are climbing was so stained with the blood of a condemned Jesus.

We are but human, this bunch of us climbing to see what really happened at the top of this hill on that unforgettable day. And questions are swirling, knowing atop this hill - face to face - "they" killed Jesus!

ALL acts Have Consequences!

This is a fundamental nature of our Universe.

All living creatures known abide in this fundamental reality: all acts (all: every single one - good, bad, and indifferent) have consequences intended and/or unintended regardless of the nature of its actor. This is an inescapable condition of revealed existence, and while the sun does not shine on each and everyone of us each and every day, the sun always shines (day and night) regardless of us, and by its very nature will continue shining until it burns out. Yes, it will burn out. What about us?

The nature of one's character - the truth of one's authentic being - does not depend on a tallying revelation on judgment day; one's character is revealed every moment in how one treats others (any and all kinds of people) who can do nothing in return.

The nature of one's character - the reality of who one is - does not depend on the fawning testimonies of one's circle of beloved; one's character is revealed every moment in how one treats others (any and all kinds of others) when no one else on earth can see what is being done to any of them.

The nature of one's character - the evidence of one's humanity - is in no order dependent on visiting eyes or recording cameras or descrepant lies; all acts - good, bad, and indifferent - have consequences, regardless! And every human's time is finite. It expires. Sooner or later, it expires. Not so with one's character. It is what it is. Forever infused into the memory of existence.

So it is too, embeded in the anals of eternity, atop this hill "they" killed Jesus!

Even Jesus!

Taking this virtual path up to the top of this hill where his blood stained Golgotha's stones, questions are swirling.

Sweating. Slipping on these stones. Tiring. Climbing relentlessly upward. Questions are swirling.

I hear lashes. I feel mockery. I see betrayals. I smell blood. Upon the tongue there is dust. The inflicted pain is real. The inflicted suffering is real.

These lashes, like claps of riddling bullets ripping through vulnerable flesh, ring out around our world. They echo through the ether. They mock pain. False kisses - betrayal (souls cheapened by filthy lucre sickening the very hearts and minds of the hands that hold it in penchant) - bomerang endlessly in its own dysfunction: fear. Blood is everywhere. And upon tongues there is dust! Tongues hang heavy with lies. Too muscular for the lightness of truth. Too burnt for the sweetness of authentic love. The inflicted pain is real. The inflicted suffering is real. Too numb, too reflexive, too afraid to not lash out at the shadows of its anguish. Boomerangs.

"They" killed Jesus! Yes, even Jesus!

Man of sorrows; what a name!

This rock upon which I rest my weary feet is teeming with miracles. It lifts me through a storm. Beyond it I behold. And, oh, my joy is restored. And as a youth steps up beside me, a child inquires: what happened?

Who-ah.

"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 Man, Prince of Glory, Redeemer.

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! Creator, Deliverer, Sustainer. Sees all. Knows all. Can be all things even demonstrative of the remarkable power of thought, intention and action. Never trigger-happy!

What do you see?

strong - brave - capable - valued - gifted - possessed of joy, hope, peace and love - treasured - entrusted - loved - courageous

May our light shine on sprinkled seeds along The Journey.

"Live Your Life - Live it well. You are worth it."