Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘heaven’

Born of Water; Born of Spirit

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , , , , , , , on March 13, 2017| Leave a Comment »

I’m not sure why I’ve been so dense about this scripture for so long. Did everyone get this and me just today? Sigh.

 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” [John 3:5-8, NIV] 

For some reason, I always associated being born of water as baptism. It is one of those symbolic acts that we are encouraged to do, from death to life kind of thing. In some churches, it is even mandated.

But today, I just realized that we are all born of water. I mean, human beings are born of water through the womb (hint: water breaking and all that). We are all the same in this way: humankind. We are all born with tremendous potential for all things possible in our three dimensional, time-constrained world.

However, how are we born of the Spirit? Is this that conversion experience when we accept Christ? That’s certainly an implication from scripture but I’m thinking some careful study might be good here as well. But accepting the reality of Jesus and the reality of the Holy Spirit, may only be the starting point. I think there is also a revelation of spirit that is needed. The Spirit is all around us. Heaven is all around us, for lack of a better term for that “other.” It is not a place as we know place.

Being born of the Spirit requires a certain relinquishing the body, not being so concerned about its state of affairs, recognizing the fleeting nature of the body, and cherishing instead the spirit within whose true home is heaven, with God and in God and through God.

Our spirit birth can be easy or difficult. We make it less difficult by practicing the ways of Jesus and thereby manifesting the “fruits” of Spirit. We agree to the paradoxes of going the extra mile, loving our enemies, and praying for those who persecute. We give thanks in all circumstances, for they are too are merely a moment. We journey the life of the flesh in anticipation of the birth in the spirit.

Can we dwell in the spirit now? Not really, but we can engage there through the Holy Spirit and in our relationship to God. Prayer is a key component and being still and meditating. These are ways to center down into those places. Sometimes, in worship, we are experience the Presence. The more self-less we are, the more likely to enter that Place.

Spirit of the Living God, breathe on me.

 

Read Full Post »

Waiting for the Fire

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , , , , , , on February 17, 2016| Leave a Comment »

flame of loveListen, God! Please, pay attention!
Can you make sense of these ramblings,
my groans and cries?
    King-God, I need your help.
Every morning
    you’ll hear me at it again.
Every morning
    I lay out the pieces of my life
    on your altar
    and watch for fire to descend. [Psalm 5:1-3, The Message]

Have you ever just prayed and prayed for something in particular? And prayed. And still the heavens are silent. We’re waiting for the fire to descend, the fire of the Holy Spirit to step into the situation, to alter it, to heal it, to divide it, to just manifest! Darn it!

I believe in the fire of heaven. I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe in the God of the Universe, sweet Spirit, in all and through. But the longer I keep my God alive within, the more sure I am that no desire on my part will bring the fire. I don’t have the timetable.

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t pray, even fervently, but the prayer has to be without that one eye open – the eye that is looking for results. The more we look for the fire, the less likely we will see anything. Besides, it’s more likely that the miracle, the answer, the fire of God, will come in an unlikely form. In the same way that the Israelites looked for a warrior Messiah and a conqueror; instead, they got a mild-mannered carpenter who carried no obvious weapon, hired no bodyguards, and enlisted no troops. And yet, that Jesus and that ragtag dozen turned the world upside down.

Paul writes, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” [Philippians 4:12, NIV] And yet, he was also a mighty prayer warrior. He believed he was living out, each and every day, eachHoly spirit dove and every trial, answers to his prayers.

After all, there is still the simplicity of Psalm 118:24, “This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.” The fire is in every day, every hour, every minute. You don’t have to “see” the fire to trust. Holy Spirit, flame of love.

Read Full Post »

Gate of Heaven

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 21, 2014| Leave a Comment »

gateA quick search on the phrase, “gate of heaven” caught me off guard as it appears to have become a popular name for cemeteries. I think that’s a shame as it puts so much emphasis on heaven being available only after we enter the “big sleep” if you will. But heaven is also within and available to us now, if we open the gate.

When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.”He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.” [Genesis 18:16-17]

We are the church, we are the house of God. The body is a sanctuary and temple to the Holy Spirit [I Cor 6:19]; isn’t heaven there too?

In heaven, we are promised continual access to God where there are no more tears and no more pain. This timeless place is so not limited to our three-dimensional understanding of existence. It is spirit. It is God.

For me, the gate is Christ.

sheep gateI tell you the truth: I am the gate of the sheep. All who approached the sheep before Me came as thieves and robbers, and the sheep did not listen to their voices.I am the gate; whoever enters through Me will be liberated, will go in and go out, and will find pastures. The thief approaches with malicious intent, looking to steal, slaughter, and destroy; I came to give life with joy and abundance. [John 10:8-10, The Voice]

GatesNarrow gate allow us in but gates also protect, whether in reality or symbolically.

In Old Testament times, the gates of the city were a public forum where transactions were witnessed.

A gate is a choice, whether to enter or depart.

Read Full Post »

One Day Better Than Another

Posted in Ordinary Time, Praying the Psalms, tagged , , , , , , , on September 12, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I suppose it’s been foolish of me to imagine that there aren’t degrees within the broad umbrella of service to God. I enjoyed the openness of acceptance, the equality I found in Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” And so I had imagined there was an across the board sameness to us in the eyes of Spirit. But then, I was reminded by my own pastor that there are promises of “crowns” in heaven for some and not for others. Initially, this message made me uncomfortable. I have spent so many years trying to let go of a performance-oriented faith, a weighing in of the value of my response to grace.

Reality check: Some people deserve recognition for their faithfulness. They may be choosing more wisely how to use their time and energies than me.

Just one day in the courts of Your temple is greaterMotherteresa and child
    than a thousand anywhere else.
I would rather serve as a porter at my God’s doorstep
    than live in luxury in the house of the wicked.
For the Eternal God is a sun and a shield.
    The Eternal grants favor and glory;
He doesn’t deny any good thing
    to those who live with integrity. [Psalm 84:10-11, The Voice]

The point is the paradox that the choice is not the “Martha” one of scurrying about and being busy for Jesus. It’s sitting at the feet of the Christ, it’s holding the door, it’s being present and ready when a need comes up and then simply saying, “yes.”

As Pastor Jess taught, if we have accepted the presence of Christ and the Holy Spirit in our lives, then we are “saved,” meaning we are bound to the Spirit and our own spirits will live forever in heaven, in perpetual unity with the Holy Spirit. But the sweetness of that union depends on my devotion, my surrender, my confession, my poured out life.

Read Full Post »

An Unclear Destiny

Posted in Eastertide, tagged , , , , , on April 29, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Statue, Touching Heaven, Brussels

Statue, Touching Heaven, Brussels

As Christians, we are all taught that our God-given destiny is heaven, eternal life, and all that. I can remember, as a child, wondering why everyone thought being in heaven would be so wonderful if we were really just standing around worshiping God and singing all the time. Sounded boring to me. This is where humans are once again clueless.

My loved ones, we have been adopted into God’s family; and we are officially His children now. The full picture of our destiny is not yet clear, but we know this much: when Jesus appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him just as He is.  [I John 3:2; The Voice translation]

We have made up our destiny just like we have made up pictures of Jesus, angels, God, and even the devil. We keep putting them into our own understanding, our own limited imagination. We smile at Elijah’s “chariot of fire” as it whisks him off into the sky or John’s revelation of beasts covered in eyeballs. How primitive their interpretations, we think. But are we any better?

I am reading a fantasy book in which a young girl has been “glamored” with the appearance of human. She’s really faerie, a green pixie in fact. In those types of books, a glamor is an enchantment in which there is a corporate acceptance of what is seen. It is a covering or mask. It was one of the tricks of the Jedi too, to simply plant an idea in the mind of another of what he/she was really seeing.

The truth is, we have very few clues about heaven. Any description in scriptures has been filtered through human. There is much, much more, I’m sure of it. Heaven and eternal life are not extensions of what we are today.

I don’t mean to crudely disappoint those who have expectations of “seeing” their loved ones in heaven. I’m sure, in some state or another, we will encounter the family of God, but we will not look, feel, taste, or see the same. It’s not like this. It’s not here. And that’s the point.

Our destiny is to be like Christ who came to earth to reveal, just a little, of what true living is . . . what Spirit life does, how it works and what its impact is when applied to a 3-D world (hence: miracles). Of course, the norm of Spirit will appear to be a miracle: it’s outside of time and space.

I do not know my true destiny. This is the message of John’s letter. But when I get there, I will know and I will recognize the Christ. . . . and myself in a whole new way.

Read Full Post »

What is the Prize?

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , , , , , , , on February 20, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Painting by Dorothy J. Ross

Painting by Dorothy J. Ross

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. [Philippians 3:13-14]

The prize is not death alone. If that was true, then we’d be lining up for the “big shot” (which is what I used to tell my children when our very sick dogs or cats had to be euthanized — probably not the best description). But if death itself was a prize, we would be racing toward it.

No, it’s not any death, it’s a death that is drenched in the Spirit of Christ and when that happens, death is a doorway.

But that’s not the most important part. At least, it can’t be for me. I am already so results oriented, I don’t really want to add another “ending” to which I am “straining” as Paul states. Instead, I want to be present in the process of knowing Christ. This is a way of living that is not dependent on circumstances. It’s a place so secure within that nothing can shake it loose. This place, this Presence, is the source of love and miracles.

It’s not that “last” death but the small dying to self each day so that God, in Spirit, is more. Or, unified, who I am is not lost entirely but married to the One. We are called the bride for a reason. But until then, we are still guests at the wedding, relatives at the ceremony, even witnesses. The prize is in the marriage vows and certificate. The prize is becoming one with the Christ Spirit within.

 

Read Full Post »

Enoch Walked with God

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on November 8, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Enoch was the baby of the Adam line. Unlike his forebears or those who lived after him up into their 800’s and 900’s, Enoch died at 365. Outrageous numbers, all of them. Nobody can live that long. But who can really say? Clearly, Human (Adam/Eve) was different than we are today. So, let’s assume it’s true, just for the heck of it. What is there to learn?

Genesis 5:23-24
Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

Enoch walked with God. Now, since God usually walked in the Garden of Eden and not out with the non-Garden folks, something tremendous had changed here. The story says Enoch walked with God 300 years, presumably all the years after the birth of his son, Mathusaleh (the grandfather of Noah, who, by tradition is said to have died 7 days prior to the flood, which allowed for the proper days of grieving — that piece of trivia comes from the studious rabbis back in the day).

Enoch is the only one of the line who did not die in the natural way. Each patriarch is written as having a specific time of death, along with the presumable birth year of his first-born son and the total number of years he lived after the birth; but then he died. Except Enoch.

Enoch disappeared. God took him away.

Now, if I had to imagine how life looked back then, I would presume that Adam and Eve set up house as close to the Garden borders as possible. Maybe they couldn’t even see the Garden, maybe it had a mysterious “fantasy-like” secret entrance (there is mention of flashing swords and cherubim) or maybe it was a daily reminder. In any case, I can’t imagine them going far. So they set up a community for several hundred years and and with several thousand people, assuming they all had similar fertility and longevity.

But everyone knew and heard about Enoch. After all those silent years without God, about 600 years, Enoch had a special relationship with God, with the Creator, with the Master of the Garden.

People knew about the Garden. Certainly, Adam must have talked about the garden and what it was like, the same way people talk about heaven, or the good old days, or the best vacation ever. When people struggle, they build hope from their memories of better times in the past. If it was good once, it could be good again.

But Enoch was doing it. He was hanging out with God. Either he managed to get into the Garden for his strolls, or he had a pure heart, was recognized by God and rewarded with access. We’ll never know.

But in some way, what Enoch shared with God, he passed to Methusaleh, even if by story alone. And Methusaleh passed to Lamech, who fathered Noah and blessed him proclaiming, “He [Noah] will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.” They believed there was a reason for Enoch’s relationship. They believed in a better tomorrow.

There was an anointing on Noah from the beginning, then. He wasn’t some Steve Carell (an unbelieving Evan Almighty called by God to build a modern-day ark). Noah had the benefit of Enoch’s faith and stories passed down through the generations. It made a difference. We should be telling our faith stories to our children. We should be remembering and keeping track of the blessings of God. They are milestones of faith for those to come.

I believe Enoch is still in the Garden, untouched by the temptation of the other tree, relishing in the Tree of Life.

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »

%d bloggers like this: