passing up on our freedoms ..

the link is to a 3-minute clip of charlie rose interviewing carl sagan

and what sagan says is insightful - the principle is valid, and pungent
i just posted links ( on another site ) to examples of freedoms being eroded

http://www.upworthy.com/a-science-icon-died-17-years-ago-in-his-last-interview-he-made-a-warning-that-gives-me-goosebumps-5?c=fea


a critical principle under freedom is the significance of each person's acting-out their freedom
when you give up your right
someone else will snatch it
and usually they use it for ill

one more time ..
when individuals pass-up-on their responsibility as individual members of society
they, in effect, hand over their freedom to be coopted by some waiting vulture
   some mover/player who will then use it to forward their own agenda
.. .. .

and that goes for the church too
bigtime

selah ..~

yesterday i was privileged to meet with a small community of Jesus-people again
and worship
and sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs
and hold hands and share on-the-heart stuff and pray for one another
and join in remembering Jesus' death by sharing the bread and the wine
and listen to God speaking from the heart of a wise humbleman

i heard this, although not verbatim ..
" what's going on here is not religion propping-up and making excuses for what's going on in the world around us
but underground, non-violently revolting against it .. "
   or similar

we are the counter to the system of the world
and we always
always
move in the direction of Jesus
always for the oppressed
always against the self-ish establishment/power/moneyed influence
always in peace
always out of love

we do this
   as individuals
   working together
   in the Body

the Body cannot operate properly otherwise
i
         must
you
         must
he/she
         must

if we do not
the world system wins

 .. .. ..   .

a final thought on this ..
there are christians in other countries who move in that direction
at risk of their lives and their families' lives
because of persecution ..
they offer their lives to spread the Good News of Jesus
so people will know ..
they are beaten mercilessly and imprisoned and tortured
today
now
in our time
many many many of them ..

we live in a land that allows us the freedom to share his love

shouldn't we  ?

shouldn't
you
?

shouldn't
i
                   ?

go for the heart ..

 

better to go for the heart
if you can get someone to give their heart
then anything is possible

Jesus did ..
he went for the heart every time

selah ..~

read the first few chapters of the gospel of Jesus according to apostle john
   Jesus closest friend ..
repeatedly he redirects
points upwards
shifts the focus
adjusts the worldview
up
ever up
off the earthview
away from the physical
up to the spirit-ual
ever up

take the samaritan woman as 1 example

he's sitting by a well outside Sychar of Samaria
a woman approaches with her pot to get water
and he asks her for water ..

that's a nono
- like oil and water, jews and samaritans do not mix
they are enemies and even claim different spiritual holy places
   although they believe in the same God and trace their spiritual heritage from the very same place
   and both are expectant  for the Messiah ( think advent )..
- also in that day men don't converse with women in private
the disciples had gone looking for food and Jesus sat there alone when she walked up
so Jesus immediately blew 2 nono's out of the water with 1 short sentence ..

he did stuff like that

he went to the heart of the matter

then he redirected the woman's attention from wellwater to spiritwater
and identified himself when he told her personal stuff about her life
and so on ..
blew her mind
and blew the disciples' minds when they returned and saw him talking with a woman
Jesus did stuff like that
and a Samaritan woman to boot
Jesus was like that

and then there's the nicodemus story and physical vs spiritual birth

and nathanael - when Jesus first saw him he said " look, a genuine, sincere isrealite indeed - no deceit in him .."
genuine
acknowledging his heart

and the famous temple advent where Jesus took on the religious
   the ones who most stood in his way
   the mentality that was anti to heart
   posturing and pretense and pomp and pride and falsepiety
methodically plaiting a whip and angrily driving them out ..
angrily
from his heart

anger out of love

Jesus was like that ..

selah ..~

distraction ..

whenever you can
fight against the distractions
remind yourself of the heart-of-the-matter
move in that direction
diss the rabbit trails
watch out for the bogs and swamps and roots that look to trip and swallow you up
sucking the kingdom energy right out as you struggle to get loose and free yourself
waste of energy

the saddest part of it all
is that too often those red herrings and rabbits come from within kingdom ..
the enemy to fear the most is the one that comes at you from inside kingdom walls
where you least expect

selah ..~

Jesus was a simple man
he tended to simplify ..
he went direct to he heart
he didn't play games
didn't play politics
didn't thrust and parry
didn't worry too much about the players
especially the religious players

what he did was to drive direct to the heart
when faced with those distractions
those that would divert him
divest him of his mission
deter

Jesus was into a mindset that said ..
   clarify
   simplify
   balance
   centre
he redirected from the mindset
to a centred heartset
constantly
as he walked in spirit
submitted to his GodFather

he wasn't hesitant to walk off
alone
commune with God
reboot
remind himself of the criticality of centre ..

when needful he aloned it

see, Jesus didn't commit himself to people
even the ones that said they believed ..
another form of ' religion '    ?

he didn't need people to point him out and praise him and testify to him
because he knew people
he understood human
intimately
for he is human
he knew the human mindset and heartset ..
and he walked away from that
turned his back on it
left them standing there
praising thin air
playing their games
plying their politics
pointing at .. empty space
            ( john 2: 23-25 )

selah ..~

when you decide to walk in the path of Jesus
go for the heart

be aware of the distractions
especially those that would come from within your own camp
from the ' believers ' ..

walk His walk
take His position on it
match His example

swallow Jesus regularly
   like nurturing bread
   like cleansing wine

clarify
   simplify
      centre
         balance

go for the heart
every time

walking into christmas .. heartily

the big day is 1 1/2 weeks off

it's the biggest day of the year, yuh know ..



the retail company i worked for back in the day
   a viable/profitable relic of the department stores era
racked up 30+ % of it's annual sales durins the 3 weeks surrounding christmas
.. huge
if not for those 3 weeks there'd be no business

here's a thought ..
as most of us know christmas has become the greatest excuse
   to indulge in Moi-ness
whether it's used as opportunity to splurge on my family and close friends
or on Me
... ..    .

ok so i'm not breaking new ground here ..
christmas is actually a celebration of The Christ ..
that word is the Greek rendering of ' Messiah ', a Jewish term for ' anointed '
and most of the time refers to the Son of God, incarnated as Jesus
the man we know from the New Testament documents ..
Israel had long awaited his prophesied advent as their Deliverer

and he did advent
but in most unusual ways
unexpected personage
waaaay off the beaten track ..

read the gospels ..
please ..

don't get caught up in the politicizing of christmas
or in the consumerising of it  ..

sure, it's a wonderful time to be gracious
to join in the celebrations
enjoy your family
your friends
your workmates ..
                             your ... enemies ..  ?

ever notice how allofasudden people who despise one another all year long
suddenly pause the animosity at christmas  ?  ..
strange that ..
.... .      ..    .

i vote we do it Jesus-style
i vote we buck the system
i vote we diss the way everybodyelse does it
overspending overdoing
mostly to impress
mostly because if we don't the givee will be offended ..

Jesus didn't care much for being inoffensive to the uncaring
he let the chips fall ..

contrarily, he went to the offensive
to those who were an ' offense ' to society
like beggars and whores and thieves and people with awful skin diseases and mad people and ...
those were the people he listened to and talked with and helped and taught the truth of God ..

let that sink down into you
into me

Jesus went to the oppressed and the marginalized and the beaten-down and the sick and the fatherless and widow and accused and abused and the stranger and the alien
he went there
and he brought a ray of hopeshine
he blessed the poor and the mourning and the meek and those that strive for peace ..

he threw the whole thingy in a tizzik
upended the privileged
overthrew the religious and their tables of prosperity
   plaited a whip while they looked on, and then used it to drive the abominable out
they were a stench in his nostrils ..
.... . .    .

i vote we do something different this christmas
as we go about our christmasbusiness and busy-ness ..
let's be open-eyed for someone ' down-on-their-luck '
somebodies needy-like
hurting
hungry
old/dirty clothes
some child with probably no decent gift for christmas
some old person dying in that old-folks-home-of-death
some disabled vet
some forgotten body
..
let's look for them
let's pray that God points them out to us
let's ask him for the opportunity
each day ..

carry around an extra something in our wallet
earmarked just for that purpose
looking for the opportunity
to give ..

and then bless
bless them
in Jesus' name
with a smile
and a hug
a warm embrace of love
blessing them
...    .     .

give
    peace
                    love
          hope
joy

give
from your heart
with your heart
to their heart

be the heart of Jesus this Christ-mas
give
overflowingly
cheerfully ..

it will not make you any the poorer
in fact it will enrich your souls
'cause you're doing it to Jesus
for Jesus
as
Jesus

and it will not be lost on God .. .  ...  .

you got my vote