Will The Messianic King Heal The Earth?

“Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realize we cannot eat money.” ~Cree Indian Proverb

Do you think the earth is beautiful?  Who doesn't, right?  But, do you think it is worth dying for?  Some people do...

The Law of Mercy

I started up Bagel's For Christ again, but this time with a couple of teens that I minister to at Youth For Christ.  I've been going through the book of Genesis with them, but took a detour today because only one of the boys showed up.  We talked about forgiveness.  It is literally one of the hardest things for some people to do.  They'd probably rather jump off a cliff than forgive someone for the damage done to them.  But anyway, here is how the study went...

When Beggars Kill The Mood

“We habitually erect a barrier called blame that keeps us from communicating genuinely with others, and we fortify it with our concepts of who's right and who's wrong. We do that with the people who are closest to us and we do it with political systems, with all kinds of things that we don't like about our associates or our society.  

It is a very common, ancient, well-perfected device for trying to feel better. Blame others....Blaming is a way to protect your heart, trying to protect what is soft and open and tender in yourself. Rather than own that pain, we scramble to find some comfortable ground.”   ― Pema Chödrön

My family and I  belong to this faith community that meets regularly during the week.  On Sundays, we meet at this art studio downtown.  It's really kind of hard to describe, but suffice to say that it's really special.  One of the things that I appreciate about this community is the awkwardness...

Awake, O' Seeker, & Celebrate Joyful Uncertainty!

I was born a spiritual seeker with an insatiable hunger for Truth.  As long as I can remember, I have longed deeply for Home, even before I had any idea what that could mean.  Now that I'm older, this thirst for knowledge has only grown stronger.  And it's also a lot more enjoyable. As it turns out, That which I was seeking has been seeking ME all along.  

Why Troops Are The New Gays

In this clip from the movie Stranger Than Fiction, Ana Pascal (Maggie Gyllenhaal) tells the tax-collecting protagonist to "get bent," followed by the entire room erupting in judgment solely based upon the man's employment.  In his mind, what he is doing seems unethical, yet he finds himself receiving a paycheck week after predictable week in support of the soul-stealing empire.

Similarly, in Jesus' day any Jew that was hired as a taxman was considered to have betrayed his kin by collecting taxes for the empire that occupied them.  So tax-collectors were resented and despised by everyone they passed by (they were easily recognizable by their imperial garb).

Understanding this, Jesus had a habit of befriending those whom society had branded as untouchable, along with many other types of social outcasts (diseased, mentally ill [i.e. demon possessed], and crippled).  In fact, Jesus told several parables detailing the surprising truth that His kingdom was precisely concerned with accepting those whom society had rejected.