Forgiveness

Loving your neighbor is easy enough , forgiving them is another thing altogether ! What is it about forgiveness that makes it so difficult for me ? It seems that the closer the person is to me the harder it is for me to let the little injustices slide by . And I really tend to hang on to those that are not so little . Perhaps it is because these are the people that I trust the most . Because I have deemed them worthy of my confidence , I expect them to be that way for ever . I have learned over the years that simply because some one holds a position of trust and that I assume they should be trustworthy does not make it so . I have never been real big on the whole " turn the other cheek " concept , I tend to lean towards " if you slap one cheek , I'm very reluctant to give you the other one " and if by chance you should slap that one too , you might as well hang it up 'cause I doubt you'll get more than basic courtesy from me ever again . How many times should I forgive people the same offenses , before I just give up on them ? Perhaps I should pull out my trusty "post card bible" and think on it for a while . Do you have to trust your neighbor in order to love him (or her) ? Food for thought .

True Love

There are basically three kinds of love ...
Agape ... The all encompassing love of God . That one is easy we , it just happens , He loves us.
We probably don't deserve it all of the time , but it is there none the less . Nothing we can do about that one one way or the other , it is not ours to give or deny to others , it does not belong to us because it is God's love for us .
Eros ... Romantic love ... We hear a lot about that one this time of year . Yes , it is a wonderful thing to have [ LOVE YOU MUFFIN :o) ] and there are few things in life that are more comforting than to know even after 5475 days worth of kids , bills , jobs and the mundane things that life is really made of , he will still laugh at my bad jokes . But it is not what truly holds the world together .
Philio ... The love of a brother ... friend to friend , stranger to stranger , this is what the world is really about . This is what God really expects of us . The bible is full of strong suggestions , laws and commandments and for as long as there have been people reading and trying to interpret it , there have been people fighting about it . Fighting about how to live correctly , which laws mean more than others , who's right and who's wrong , who is more pious 'cause they can name most of the laws and commandments that they keep daily that you or I don't . What most people seem to forget or choose to forget is that the entire Bible can be summed up in one small pharse . We could reprint the entire thing on a post card and stick it in our pockets to go everywhere with us . This is my new and improved BASIC BIBLE .... it only consists of one verse .... Jesus answered , " You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all of your mind , and with all of your strength ... and you shall love your neighbor as you love yourself. There are no greater commandments than this. " Pretty simple huh . Put it on a post card , put it in your pocket , read it , study it , most importantly ... LIVE IT !!

Called for what ?

Ok , here comes one of those very unpopular , politically incorrect opinions of mine . I know several people who are currently answering what they perceive as a "call" from God . You know the one ... We have all had it at one point or another to some degree or another . Well it isn't any calling that I have issue with , but how they choose to answer it . I'm not sure if it is the church that I am more upset with or the individuals themselves . For those of you who may have no idea what it takes to answer a call to ordination in the Episcopal church check out the cannons of your diocese . It requires that a family give up major amounts of time and money . There are denominations out there that do all that they can to help those who feel that they are being led to ordained leadership , ours however seems to take the position that if the church throws everything at them that there is to throw and suck up every bit of spare time and every spare penny that a family may have and the family survives , then they may be worthy of ordination . Yes we as Episcopalian do ordain women , but in return we demand that they basically give up their families to do so . This is where I get really disappointed in people . (men and women) when I have to watch their children take a back seat to jumping through canonical hoops . It's not right ... I don't think God ever intended for people to put the church ahead of the emotional and financial welfare of their families . To those of you who might be going through the "process" now or for those of you who may be considering it , PLEASE think of your children ... They will only be children once !!! When they are grown up , you can't get them back . The church will be still be around when they are grown . ( and you will probably have more spare change)

Blessed are the MEEK ?

Standing on a hill , preaching to an ever-growing group followers Jesus uttered one phrase that would plague "good Christians" until the end of time itself. On the surface it wouldn't seem to be such a profound thought, just four simple words ... blessed are the meek. How could such a simple statement be so misunderstood? For centuries "good Christians" have labored under the misconception that to be meek means to be a doormat for the "world". Hardly; you must remember that this was said by the same Christ who had the audacity to have dinner with a tax collector in the name of God. Yes Jesus said "turn the other cheek", no, Jesus did not say "be overly submissive and compliant" This is after all the same Christ who ran through the temple overturning tables. Be meek , not subserviant. What exactly is it to be meek? At its best the word meek means patience, humility and a certain even-ness of temper and attitude. At its worst the word meek seems to convey thoughts of cowed submissiveness and fear . The Church and her congregations are preyed upon because they are full of the "meek". For those of us who have been given charge over God's own children, being meek can NOT mean being compliant. We can NOT afford to go blindly about our business accepting all help that is offered to us in what would seem to be a spirit of faithfulness and love. We must be dilligent, we must be watchful, we must be kind, but we must not be fools . Be meek, not mindless . Walking in the spirit of love does not mean we are to become easy targets for those who would do harm to family of God. Be meek , not naive. For in the same book where Christ said "blessed are the meek", he also gives warning for us to "be wise as serpants but as innocent as doves". (MT 10:16)