Easter Thoughts

The Morning Star  

O Star of the morning, you have served the night. Rise now to your zenith in the day and guide the commerce of the world.  Bring comforting beam to the lost, grant hope to the suffering and needy, delight yourself in children at play as lambs that kick the clouds and grant light to those who slither from shadow to shadow.  Stand with us as we watch the rhythms of the seasons slide by like an eagle on its swing.  Hover over us, O Star.  Wait with us for the birth, the rising up of the humble – those who, like you, desire the company of seekers tracking over the sands, the mounds of time undulating like the wave beam on a scope of man.  O Star, you were never desired more than now.  Amen

***  

Beauty is never created.  It is noticed and imitated.

***

We often look at pieces of art, literature and artifacts of civilizations with the intent of learning something about the persons who created them.  We do this because we passionately believe that people impart some information about themselves in what they create.

Is it not reasonable to say, therefore, that God created the world to say he is a God of resurrection and restoration.  Can we not determine that He is deeply committed to life and renewal?  Do we not see in His works that the earth speaks of a creator who will not take death as the last word?  Do we not look into our own hearts and see a yearning for love, peace, justice and righteousness that cannot be explained apart from the divine impartation?  Can we not see that our own lives are a reflection of a divine mind – even the stamp of His image?

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal Power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.  For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.”  Romans 1:20-21

***

Through the Veil  

The Sun shines through the black barren branches, a filigree like a veil more space than threads to let the light through. On the other side of the copse is a world as real and its light illumines the place where we stand. Such was the way of the star, lightning splitting the clouds, the Wind of the Spirit, that invaded our world to shine upon a stable, center upon a post and fill our monkish chambers.

***   It is very unlikely that the Christian faith is an invented religion. The testimonies of the story, which are many, would uphold this.  Furthermore, no one with any reason would imagine a God who would pay such a price as the incarnation and a crucifixion as a pathway to redemption.    Humans, inventing a religion, would invent one which would essentially deny man’s proclivity to sin.  Then they would raise up centers of education, distribute goods evenly, kill off the aberrant, clone a super race, silence the praise of God and validate to obsessive levels man’ inherent goodness. In short, they would invent a costless state of grace proclaiming a God who is nearly equal and a race that is inherently like Him.

***   Who is Ready for God ?   Who is ready for God? Who can stand in the full blaze of his presence? Who is ready for the light not broken into a thousand rainbows?  Who can stand the sound of His voice or even endure a whisper? Where can we go?  What shadow can hide us from Him? When all is said and done we will face Him, even embrace Him, merge our spiritual worship  with His Spirit as a mere  breath exhaled into a fathomless atmosphere while drawing upon him for the very song we sing. It is a good thing he has a human face.  It is better he has a name and it is a wonder that we can call Him deliverer, our friend,  who is closer than hands and feet. 

***

All hope depends upon the guarantee of a happy ending.  Therefore, I am a realist. It is real to hope.  It is real to live each day expectantly.  It is real to fight for that in which you believe.  It is real to be disappointed when hope is deferred.  It is real to believe that someday, somehow the deepest ache in our hearts will find satisfaction. Therefore, those who stop hoping stop being realists, enter the hinder lands of despair and become burdens upon the realists who hope.  Even when one among us loses hope they declare loudly that they were once real enough to have believed.  They were once real enough to have been disappointed. Hope is not only a rabbit on the track but also the imprint of the divine in the hound that makes it run.                                     Derrel E. Emmerson

Love and Immortality

It has been shown that we perish emotionally and spiritually for the lack of qualitative love. There is an irrefutable link between our need for love and our desire for immortality. 
Why do we seek to achieve, to advance beyond our peers, to seek recognition and honor among others?  It is our inherent need for love; of being found admirable; of finding worth in the evaluation of other people.  This translates into our equal need to be remembered as we are noticed; to be admired as we seek to do something that will insure we will be long remembered; to create a legacy that others will know we have been here.
 In the long run we know that if life is to have any meaning it must be lived in such a way that we will be noticed. It is the very recognition of us by others that gives us a sense of significance not only in our present lives but in the future.  If we are not noticed for our good deeds there is a perverted inclination to be noticed for our evil ones.  This explains the behavior of the serial killer. 
 No human, even those with notoriety, wants to go down to the grave without having lived “significantly.”  Few will admit they do not want to live forever.  If they do, they still long for some significance in the memory of those who will follow which is a form of immortality.
The human spirit unusually beautiful when we think of human achievement.  We admire it because there is something superlative about the human spirit in comparison to all other life as we know it.  The very longing of humans to be transcendent is recognition of this and the reason we seek love and admiration.  Jews, Christians and even the Greek philosophers wrestled with this and generally recognized that we have the image of God stamped in our natures (imago Dei) or at least are like the “gods.”
Moderns may have no liking for this type of discussion but they are nevertheless caught with either facing it or blatantly ignoring it as they seek love and significance in their lives.   Honesty demands that we either admit our proclivity for immortality or stop our talk about what is good, fair, just, and beautiful.  Such discussions are simply the effect of our looking for something that is beyond or immortal.
 

Autumn Flight

Soaring Down
 

The glory of God sparkles in

things that soar – like leaves

 leaping from a tree in Autumn. 

Fledglings in space, they

 lean out and

stretch to test the wind.

 

 I saw a whole flock of them loose
their grip on frail perches to

 fling themselves into

the air flapping,
 lofting,
sinking,

spinning and

boogying in the sun –

a  flurry of foil shimmering
in vagrant patches of sun.
 

They did not go downward  like
the quarry slave at night. 
 

They rose and fell and

rose again making the

flight down

as flight up

into a simple settled state.  

 

At last they lit upon the moss,

a hoard of crackle Grackles,  melting

into the scented earth to

await resurrection through the trunk,
the bud,
the flower
and the greening again.
 

Nothing falls that is not lifted up.
 Nothing melts into oblivion. 
 

Everywhere the message of

 springing is writ so
 we will seize the glory of
 the present moment and

shine in the sun while it is light.

 
This is the way of all flying things and
all things fly that rise in gases,
 in sap,
 like fluids that
flow downward only
 to be lifted to fall in
endless rhythm. 
 

This is the splendor written in

the cycle,

 the circling down,

the rising up,
 the greening,
 the color going,
and the endless spiral of

dying and becoming.

All things defy the clutch of  gravity
 but are never bound because

 there is wonder in the way of things.

It is glory to come down and then go up. 

 

This glory dazzles.

Deception at Work

Ways Humans deceive
 

Deception is always working around us. We see it in every community and every group.  It is possible to see it at work and make it a subject of prayer for others under its spell and avoid being deceived ourselves.
 The following are some ways we may see deception working in a group.  These are things we people do to deceive. Our chief focus should be to avoid the temptation to use such techniques to deceive, mislead or control others ourselves.  We are better people when we understand the weakness of our nature and watch and pray that we not enter into such temptation.
 

1. Deceivers begin “fuzzing” up the discussion by creating confusion, diversion, questions and arguments regarding definition of terms.
 

2.  When discussions are constructive the deceiver switches the topic.
 

3.  Those who wish to deceive will use mild or positive terms to make their negative behavior seem positive.
 

4.  Deceivers make every effort to divide members of the group by collusion or flattery of those whose influence is needed.
 

5.  Deceivers take every occasion to attack the strong or influential members of the group by highlighting their flaws or weaknesses.
 

6.  The deceiver will ask for unnecessary information, details or demand unreasonable responses.
 

7.  Deceivers redefine reality by calling attention to areas where there is not success and minimize successes.
 

8.  Those who are seeking divide and deceive will find high sounding causes to justify hostile action.
 

9.  Deceptive people divert attention from all of the facts.
 

10.  Deceivers don’t like to share responsibility for failures and frequently seek out scapegoat.
 

11.  The deceiver will accuse others of lying to cover lies of the accuser.
 

12. Those seeking to deceive will promise something others desire and deliver something else under the pretext that it was what was desired.
 

13. Those who mislead will find, flatter, brainwash a collaborator.
 

14.  Deceivers will entice others to attack them so the deceiver can become a victim of the group to win the sympathy of other group members.

15.  Deceivers will blame history, ancestors or predecessors for their own failures.
 

16.  Those seeking to deceive will create loopholes or changes in contracts already agreed upon by the group. They are particularly fond of rewriting history.
 

17.  Deceivers share only partial information and like to become pipe lines through which all information is strained.

18.  The deceiver will always arrange for deniability.

19. The deceiver will usually work hard to create an image of himself that is “heroic” and exceptional.

20.  The deceiver will sometimes tell the story of his own misdeeds as if he is apologizing all the while manipulating the facts to his own advantage.

21.  The deceiver will entice others to keep his secrets so that they are implicated with him by participation in a pretext of “trust.”

Prayer
 

O Lord, God of all truth give me a hatred of the slightest deviation from what is good, and true and lovely.  Make me an instrument of light and grant that I become the first of sinners to confess and admit my fault.  In the name of Jesus who abides only with those who walk in humility and sincerity, Amen.

Practicing Stillness

There is a well circulated story of a group of explorers who hired porters to take their supplies into the interior of an African country.  The pace and progress of their journey was murder­ous.  After several days the explorers came to a place on the trail and discovered that the porters were sitting on their burdens and could not be coaxed to move.  An animated negotiation ensued.  The explorers used every argument and enticement at their disposal.  The porters protested that they could not move because the pace had gone so rapidly that they had outdis­tanced their souls.  They would only move, they said, when their souls caught up with them.  

***     

There are occasions our pursuit of goals and the pace of activity depletes us of perspective and energy.  At such time the emphasis upon “doing” negates the impor­tance of “being.”  Doing and being, progress and process, and action and reflection are dynamic tensions in our lives.  They must be balanced if we are to “gain the whole world” without “losing our souls.”  We must learn how to take responsibility for not only what we do for God but how well we reach worthy goals.  Qualitative results must not be sacrificed for quantitative pursuit.  Message can easily be voided by method.

***

People are like high maintenance machines and require as much fine tuning for their journey to the “stars” as do space vehicles.  Spiritual development should never be taken for granted.  It requires the utmost of attention.
 

***

When we fail to seek God it is comforting to know He seeks us and that even our seeking of Him that He is seeking us.

 ***

If we do not practice stillness in our lives, we will be robbed of our liberty and led by the most confident piper on the scene.

***

Stillness is not reading a good book or even active praying.  It is a condition of quiet of body and soul until the still soft voice of God is impressed upon our consciences and minds.

***

God often does not get our attention until we are ruffled and disturbed.  When we grow disturbed enough we give up trying to find our answers.  It is there that we quiet ourselves and ask God the right questions.

.

Generosity

It is a high form of generosity to allow others to give to you.  In doing so you enable them to experience the joy of giving which is always enhancing.  Controlling people often do not allow others to give freely to them.  If they must yield to the giving act they usually have to tell the person what they may give.

Generous people are those people who do what they do unconditionally even receiving.

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