in believing that the sun
will rise and set,
the seasons will change,
when we get out of bed
our feet will be held firmly to the ground
by gravity.
We have faith in our fellow man;
When dining out; the food that is served
will be safe to eat,
that public transportation will take us to
our destination,
that our hard work will reap rewards.
Jesus said,
"By faith we understand that the worlds
By faith, people confessed they had made mistakes
and wanted to change,
and were baptized by John in the Jordan river.
They believed in something great then,
and Greater to come.**
Jesus said,
"Those who are well have no need for a physician,
If you already know it all,
then by all means,
don't seek God.
But if you don't know,
you can pray for knowledge.
Sister Wendy Becket wrote,
"What do you really want when you pray? Do you want to be possessed by God? Then you are praying. Prayer is the utterly ruthless test of your sincerity."
What does it mean to be possessed by God?
For me it is to open to the embodiment of love, where all is created.
In the sacred womb of the universe--one gains a new perspective.
There, you think,
"This is what I thought would be,
but it could be
this,
or this,
or this."
Making a choice and stepping out in faith,
that's where we come in.
We say, "Yes! I believe I can do this!"
With your help God, all things are possible.
The skeptic says,
What of our fellow man?
What of suffering?
Pain?
Sickness?
Poverty?
In One spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and we were all made to drink on spirit.****
We don't have to look very far
to see those in need,
those we can help.
Pain forces us to dig deeper in love.
The big disasters are a reflection
of the little disasters right in our own
home or neighborhood.
So you're tired.
Rest is reached more deeply
having sacrificed a few more minutes
to someone who needs it.
We cannot help All with a true heart
but we can focus on those we can truly help.
We can pray for help for those we cannot help ourselves.
Time given to one person is more precious
than building another church.
Pray first.
Take action when you are called.
Have courage.
Be love.
This is for kerc:
WOODSTOCK
Words and Music by Joni Mitchell
© 1969 by Siquomb Publishing Co.
Well, I came upon a child of God
He was walking along the road
And I asked him, Tell me, where are you going?
This he told me
Said, I'm going down to Yasgur's Farm,
Gonna join in a rock and roll band.
Got to get back to the land and set my soul free.
We are stardust, we are golden,
We are billion year old carbon,
And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.
Well, then can I roam beside you?
I have come to lose the smog,
And I feel myself a cog in somethin' turning.
And maybe it's the time of year,
Yes and maybe it's the time of man.
And I don't know who I am,
But life is for learning.
We are stardust, we are golden,
We are billion year old carbon,
And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.
We are stardust, we are golden,
We are billion year old carbon,
And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.
By the time we got to Woodstock,
We were half a million strong
And everywhere was a song and a celebration.
And I dreamed I saw the bomber death planes
Riding shotgun in the sky,
Turning into butterflies
Above our nation.
We are stardust, we are golden,
We are caught in the devils bargain,
And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.
Several of us are into Joni see Keka's blog:http://open.salon.com/blog/keka/2010/09/04/open_call_trost_theres_a_joni_for_that
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Comments
I never had a dream like that before, and I probably would not have even remembered it if not for this post. Thank you.
(isn't that an odd coincidence that I had that last night, and you posted this morning?)
but we can focus on those we can truly help.
We can pray for help for those we cannot help ourselves."
Your message is timely for me as I have been lost, powerful words to reflect on. They represent freedom from pointless guilt, and better direction at the same time. Thank you.
Caroline: I think of you often, though I don't comment on your posts that much. I don't think it was a coincidence, or that you found my post this morning. It was in the air--hence the clouds! I hadn't felt anointed to do a psalm for quite some time and this just was given to me this morning. Praise God, I'm glad you still have faith, what a contrast you experienced not to have it. That is a gift that you can reflect back on if you ever have doubts again!
"Time given to one person is more precious than building another church." really caught me...
Justthinking, Yes, being in the bible belt new churches are cropping up everywhere, remodeled ones, big ones on the highway and it's all glamorous as if God gave them the money, so they must be more right than another church. But it's just another illusion, and a way to pat ourselves on the back and be comfortable in our air conditioning, while there's someone down the street, that could just use a hot meal.
I'm living now in an opposite world in our current town where most Christians are hated, to the point that when the middle school band teacher began to teach Gregorian rhythms, on a musical level only, the parents all became enraged and afraid that he was "brainwashing my kid to be a Christian" as one parent put it, no matter how much the teacher tried to explain he was just teaching a segment of music, as he had taught many other world music rhythms....meanwhile a hot meal, and some common sense, is just as needed down the street here.
Justthinking, I would much prefer to live in this environment than in the one you're living in. It's a pity that people in your town fear what they think are christians so much they feel they must protect their children even from Gregorian chants! I'm sure it's all the negative media. It just doesn't make a good news story to report something good. Particularly when they are Christian. It's a pity one must make a distinction as to what kind of Christian one is because people who claim to be aren't acting as such.
Thanks heidibeth, I'm glad to meet you and I am thankful too!
Cindy, I'm glad I could help I tire of it too! But I knew that when I started here, and I can say my views are a much needed to balance!
I am Nature's whim, like Vanessa said, and I find that fact fascinating. Makes me think that I--in fact, everyone--is more important than if we were just pawns of a divine game.
Nothing is nature is brought up by pure chance, but rather by natural selection. For some reason--whether lack of knowledge or willfully--both things are interchangeable to some people. Most of the intricacies of nature can be explained scientifically...think of it as some sort of "building blocks" approach.
Things were not created so that we could live here--we are here as living beings because all the surrounding things are the way they are.
I might have been brought into existence as a whim of nature, so to speak, but I make my own destiny. Things like illness, accidents, and other people's actions are outside my control, but that doesn't deny me of a self-established purpose or plan. Not depending on a divine power to move or control my life doesn't make me a pointless living being.
Quite the contrary, it empowers me to move forward and act.
@kerc: Respectfully, what you say is your opinion, how you feel, your whim. That does not negate Anne's truth or make your truth more 'right' than hers...but as usual, Anne's words are much more eloquently put.
Thank you again and Blessings for your encouragement!
I truly enjoy our chats : )
Kathy, trying to be as true to self as possible......I take that as a compliment and I'll venture to say you are too!
What does a Salon mean to you? Have you ever taken a minute to check out the "Genesis" of this web site?
It was created by non-believers in San Francisco, using software developed by non-believers in Godless Western Europe. These are the facts, indisputable.
The Salon concept has been used for a long, long time now by free thinkers to discuss complex issues, not to try and simplify them.
I encourage you to take a long look at the History of Salons, who attended them, and what the results were ... this site was meant to be a modern similar forum.
The Godless Californians and Western Europeans are giving us pretty much everything we use of value these days. People focused on a set of scrolls assembled by Constantine to re-unite Rome's divided East and Western Empires simply cannot by rational people be accepted as anything other than what they are.
It is true that many of us, I included sometimes fall into very sarcastic responses to these types of posts, which accomplishes nothing.
Check out the reviews of Steven Hawking's new book, he presents what many of us here study with diligence- M Theory, Bubble Theory, Quantum Physics, String Theory- and so much more, in plain English.
Preaching to the Choir is exactly the opposite of what a Salon is about ... we are expected to think!
This year particularly, with Christians burning Korans again and putting our kids in greater risk overseas than they already are, which is truly bad already, is just a perpetuation of Darkness.
I truly fail to see how any Bronze Age remnant can be of value in 2010 and beyond.
Google is just sitting there, a waitin'
How am I preaching to the choir if you have just informed me there is no choir?
Monkey, I'm honored you visit here frequently even though you don't share the same view point, you always answer honestly, and that is important to me.