Discipleship is not about:
Though they all help!
It is about submitting every thought — and emotion! — to Christ, so we more consistently manifest the Fruit of the Spirit.
[By denying our Self so we can follow Jesus all the way to the Cross]
Which is how others learn to enjoy Him.
#AmygdalaGospel #TheTransition #FruitOfTheCross
In the ancient World
Pain was con-tracted
Squeezed down
By the weight
Of tradition
And hierarchy
In our modern World
Pain is dis-tracted
Squeezed away
Temporarily by
Amusement
Achievement
Argument
Addiction
Jesus didn’t see Bartimeus
As an interruption
Because He was always looking
Always hungry
Always hoping
For the exceptional
The natural state of God
is Unison
The natural state of humans
is Division
We are divided from God
Each other and ourselves
And…
That is as it should be
‘Twas a dark and stormy night.
The elegantly dressed woman walks the empty streets, bundled up against the rain and using an umbrella. It is the 1950s. She looks like Peggy Carter from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
A man waits in an alley. He wears a hat and a suit, but no overcoat or umbrella. He looks like Marlo Brando in Guys & Dolls. As she approaches, he is lighting a cigarette with a match.
Woman: Thank you for coming.
Man: For you, baby? Always.
W. That… is what I wanted to talk to you about. I… I don’t think we should see each other anymore.
Continue readingWe need the Cross
As a Bridge
To the Other
To be a Self
Is to not be the Other
There must be a Gap
Between Me and You
So I know
Where you end
And I begin
We need to learn
Compassion for our Self
Yet show it no
Pity
Continued from Part 1
When the bizarre becomes normal, the commonplace is mind-blowing.
It no longer fazes me to have the god of mice chattering away on my shoulder. Our quest to ask “Brother Coyote” how to defeat Satan seems perfectly reasonable (though I’m still unclear why we went South from Greece to find him, rather than West towards North America).
But I am taken completely off-guard when the infamous trickster turns out to be my English Cocker Spaniel…
Ernie, roll away the stone!
Um, what? Jesus, surely you didn’t mean what I thought you said.
Yes, I did. Roll away the stone!
Continue readingI wanna be a loser
So Christ can be the winner
I wanna be the kind of saint
That everyone thinks a sinner
Book III of The Great Redemption (the sequel to Redeeming Aphrodite and Redeeming Ares)
Feeling more than a little ridiculous, I start walking South from the Temple of Apollo.
I still find it hard to believe that all I have to show from my epic journeys among the gods, from the heights of Olympus to the depths of Hades, is the small white mouse riding on my shoulder.
I must have accidentally spoken that thought aloud, though, as a soft voice replies.
“Imagine how it feels for the god of mice to end up being carried by a mere mortal, like some sort of pet!”
Our church may need to move.
Continue readingThe function of the Spirit
Is to bring the Word
Into the World
Our world
My world
Sam said it better than I could myself:
For the first time, perhaps in their entire lifetimes, Christians may no longer feel entirely at home in the world. Indeed, many of us may feel like strangers in a strange land. And that is exactly as it should be.
THE HIDDEN BLESSING IN THE DECAY OF THE WORLD SYSTEM
[The latest iteration of Discipling by Jesus]
A co-devotional practice for listening to God, Scripture, each other, and your own heart
Growing Closer to Jesus in Relationship | Character | Impact
Continue readingThe prequel to Revival Time (and Space)
It’s hard to share
In the troubles of others
When their trouble
Reminds us
Of too much of our own
Lord,
Is now the time
You will restore
Your kingship
To Your people?
Yes.
If you are willing
To pay the price.
What is that price?
Continue reading
Radically Happy 
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