New Orleans In Peril

If you are reading this blog, it is likely you are trying to make sense of the devastation that has struck New Orleans and the many small cities and towns along the Gulf coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

You, like me, have probably been glued to the television watching the bad news roll in.

You may be wondering why God "let" this happen.

In future blogs I will share my opinions on why Hurricane Katrina struck as she did. I believe there are a multitude of underlying causes that set us up for such a catastrophe. There is more than one dimension to this calamity and it is vital that we explore them all.

But not yet. That discussion can and must wait.

Right now what is important is that we have thousands of people stranded, without food or water and, with the water still rising in New Orleans, many may still be in danger of drowning.

President Bush needs to take command of the situation immediately and deploy all available troops to the area.

His office, and his office alone should coordinate the repair of the levees that must be stopped before New Orleans can be drained. In short, President Bush's number one priority should be, literally, bailing out New Orleans.

It is time for him to appear on television and give this nation guidance as to what we can do to help our brethren in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

It is time for him to reassure the millions of inhabitants of our Gulf coast states - who have no money, homes or jobs to return to - that the Federal government will provide a works program, similar to the WPA during the Great Depression, that will employ all these unemployed in rebuilding what has been lost.

And it would be wise of him to call on all Americans to carpool and conserve gas as much as possible.

God can only do for us what He can do through us.

The people of New Orleans are our people. And they are in peril. It is up to each of us to be the voice and hand of God today.

Call upon President Bush and urge him to provide the compassionate and productive leadership we, as a nation, so desperately need today.

Prayers are vital, but they are not enough. We need to pull together, stand up and take action on behalf of our fellow Americans who are in such desperate circumstances.

Contact President Bush today at (202) 456-1111 or e-mail him at comments@whitehouse.gov and urge him to decisive action. If you prefer to write to him, do so care of:

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

And even if you are only able to give five dollars, please donate to the American Red Cross. Your contribution will make the difference between hope and despair.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, I know this terror has occurred for a reason. Open me to revelation of what has brought about such suffering.

If there is a lesson here, please Lord, I am open to learning it so none of my countrymen or I need ever go through anything like this again.

Thank you for my life and the ability to make a real difference in alleviating suffering.

Amen.

Let no one seek his own, but each one the other's well-being.
1 Corinthians 10:24

And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it.
1 Corinthians 12:26

Signs

Do you believe God sends us signs?

I do. I have received too many not to.

Yet, I can tell you that being able to recognize and interpret a sign, whether it comes through someone's words, a dream or a "coincidence" in having something cross your path, is an art.

It takes such awareness and practice that aboriginal people depended upon a Shaman to understand the messages God was sending them.

A friend, Caryn, e-mailed me about a book that she has found useful and illuminating. It is The Secret Language of Signs by Denise Linn. Caryn also sent me a story about an amazing experience she had receiving signs. This is what she wrote:

I am where I am because I asked for a sign to guide me. According to Denise's book, feathers are a direct message from our Creator.

How fortuitous.

It was another hot and muggy day in southern Alabama. I had been lovingly varnishing the teak handrails on “Destiny”, my Southern Cross 31. The pelicans were very active this day, swooping and diving for dinner. I decided to take a break and watch their acrobatics.

After careful observation, I closed my eyes and joined one [through her imagination] in its flight. Flapping, gliding, swooping, diving . . . splash. Wow! What fun! Let’s do it again. Over and over I flew as a pelican.

Something changed.

I was now soaring over lush green hills. The landscape looked familiar, but I didn’t remember ever having been there. I spied a small cottage in the trees and decided to take a closer look.

Flap, glide, swoop. There was something special about this place. Even though I seemed to be alone I knew that I wasn’t. I asked “Who’s there?”.

The answer I received was immediate. “You’d be surprised.” I knew the voice. A warm and loving feeling swept over me filling me with awe.

I had more questions, but somehow I knew they wouldn’t be answered yet. I was to be patient. I took to the sky again to get a better look as to where I was.

“Not yet.” said the voice. I must be patient.

I woke with a start. I was back on my boat. Wow, now what do I do? I knew I had to find this place. Where to start?

That evening I was watching a movie where a little girl asked her dying mother to send her a feather from her wing when she reached heaven. Her wish was granted. I thought, “I can do that!”
So I firmly planted my tongue in my check and asked for a “sign”. I explained that I didn’t want to get lost on my way to this wondrous place and could the universe please send me a sign to let me know that I was on the right path. “Feathers would be nice.” I said.

The next morning lying on the deck of my boat were numerous feathers. I thought that my cat had caught a bird. It was my sign that I was heard. I knew I had a great adventure ahead of me.

Since the place of my dream was inland I sold the boat and bought an RV. I had already seen most of the stuff around the edges and now it was time to see the stuff in the middle.

I headed north stopping in several places along the way. Feathers were showing up in some of the strangest places. I love how this universe works!

I met a lot of fascinating people. Each one with another piece of the puzzle. This one would tell be about that one and down the road I went.

While following the feathers I found Chase County Kansas. I had a feeling that I would find what I was looking for here. At the local diner I was told about a place to park my RV. It was in a small town just down the road. The directions that the waitress gave me took me down a back road. Wow! I knew I was close.

I parked the RV and started looking around town. This was a very small town. Most of the houses were empty. It saddened my heart to see all of these places abandoned.

One little house caught my attention. It had been neglected for quite some time. It was completely overgrown with trees and vines. Most of the windows were broken or missing and there was a hole in the roof.

It didn’t have a front door so I decided to take a look inside.

The floor was completely covered with feathers. I had to laugh. You couldn’t see the floor for the feathers.

As I looked around this little house I could see each room finished. I even knew what color the walls would be painted. It definitely was meant for me.

I found out who owned the house and bought it for $1,200. A deal we were both happy with. I had a lot of work to do to make this house a home. I knew I was going to do all of the work myself. So I started, one small bite at a time.

I lived in my RV and worked on the house. I finished the outside first and started on the inside. Then came the flood. The town was well known for its floods and this one was a doozy. My little house had eighteen inches of water in it.

For several weeks we all worked together to clean up the little town. People came from all over the state to help us. Even though the people of this community didn’t completely understand what I was doing, they liked me and were concerned that I might leave because of the flood. So I was given the opportunity to move my little house to another location.

Outside of town, in the middle of the prairie, was an old two story farm house that had not been lived in for over forty years. I decided to take it down, one board at time, and move my little house to the old homestead. It wasn’t until after I moved the house that I stepped back and realized exactly where I was.

Yes, it was the location in my dream.

Caryn not only received signs, she had an experience of Shamanism.

So what is Shamanism?

It is a direct experience of spiritual knowledge applied in a deeply personal and holistic way. The reason that it is so powerful is because each healing is tailored to the needs of the individual as opposed to proposing a "one size fits all" approach.

Shamans work with the spirit or the soul. They heal illness at the soul level. They gain knowledge and insight from working with the spirits of nature such as rocks and trees, the land, and they gain knowledge from working with spirits of animals and humans such as their ancestors. For the shaman everything is alive and carries energetic information that is sometimes labeled spirit, energy or consciousness.

Shamanism is practiced by Christians and non-Christians alike and it is not a religon, per se, but a way of communicating with our Creator.

Caryn, apparently, is on excellent communication terms with our Creator, for she was led to her ideal home.

The lesson for all of us is this: God is always ready, willing and able to lead us to our highest good. Let us cultivate a willingness to understand His ways of communicating.

Pat Robertson: Anti-Christ

On Monday (8-22) Pat Robertson called for the U.S. to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, saying he is a "threat" to the U.S.
Mr. Robertson, who once deliberately mischaracterized Hindus with this statement: "I mean these people are out to kill other human beings in the name of their God," apparently thinks it is perfectly acceptable to kill another human being in the name of his God.

This is hypocrisy that we simply cannot allow to pass without comment.

For those unfamiliar with President Chavez, he disagrees with U.S. foreign policy because it encourages our largest and strongest corporations to enact an economic coup within his country and dictate economic conditions for his people.

For instance, look at a comparison. While Chavez moved to renationalize oil and rejects the sale of water systems for Venezuela, Argentina sold off everything including the kitchen-sink tap.

The World Bank reports that 'Almost all major utilities have been privatized,' in Argentina and their water systems have been sold off to Enron of Texas and Vivendi of Paris. These companies both fired workers en masse, let the pipe systems fall apart and raised prices as much as 400 per cent. The result is that Argentina's poor now lack access to clean water.

Because President Chavez desires to avoid such suffering and wishes to have his people decide what is best for them, as opposed to rich corporations based outside of his country, Mr. Robertson considers him a threat.

Whereas Jesus brought the dead back to life and was a champion of the poor, Robertson wants your government, in your name, to throw Venezuelans into grief and chaos by assassinating their President and forcing a regime change that will allow U.S. corporations to gut the poor in Venezuela as they like.

There was a time in the history of our nation that we, as a people, championed "the little people." We were a nation of workers that did not want to be the pawns of large, unfeeling governments or corporations and we could empathize with those who had our same distaste for being enslaved.

How things have changed.

Or have they?

My sense is that the American people have not changed, but we have been lied to and had the wool pulled over our eyes.

We are told that people struggling to feed their families and resisting being used as so much cattle by large corporations are "communists."

Let's be honest here. Is there anyone in this country who wants his life owned by a corporation that pays him less than a dollar a day for the hours of his life? Is there anyone who would like to wake up and find he or she cannot afford to take a shower because our water has been privatized?

Yet corporations are looking at water as their next great boon. Water, like air, is a necessity of human life. It is also, according to Fortune magazine, "One of the world's great business opportunities. It promises to be to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th."

They have demonstrated they can manipulate oil and energy markets quite effectively to make obscene profits at the expense of everyone else.

Over the last ten years, three giant global corporations have begun the water takeover as documented through a 12-month investigation by journalists in Canada, the U.S., Europe, Asia and Latin America. They own water rights in 56 countries and the results range "from questionable to disastrous."

So if you think the way Enron made secret deals with power producers - and had their traders deliberately drive up prices by ordering power plants shut down - was atrocious, you have seen nothing yet. Let these types of corporations continue to get their hands on our water and you willl see them plunge us into hell.

We have seen the tip of the iceberg of corporate corruption in this nation with the California debacle and billions in lost pensions. If we are willing to look, we will see that corporations exploit the poor in foreign lands even more severely.

This exploitation is what President Hugo Chavez is resisting.

And this exploitation of the poor and middle class is what Pat Robertson supports through calling for the death of Hugo Chavez.

No doubt having a personal fortune estimated at somewhere between $200 million and one billion U.S. dollars has well-insulated Mr. Robertson from the pain of poverty.

Mr. Robertson has proved, on so many occasions, to preach not the word of Christ, but an anti-Christ message of usury, bigotry, hate and now - the final outrage against Christ - assassination of a compassionate leader.

Has Robertson no shame? How does he sleep at night, knowing he has co-opted the pulpit of Jesus Christ to urge the world toward a hell of exploitation, intolerance and violence?

He has lost touch with The Living God.

Let us pray for his soul, for he appears to be on the verge of losing it.

And let us pray to Almighty God and ask Him to save us from such false witness.

As Jesus said in Mark 13:6: For many will come in My name, and will deceive many.

He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother is in darkness...and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. John 2:9-11.

God is love, not hate, not intolerance, not calls for assassination.

Mr. Robertson can only inspire further terror against our nation if he keeps up his brand of rhetoric. Let us affirm that God protects us from the tragic effects of such profound heartlessness that would so twist the Word of our loving God to its own selfish ends.

And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. John 4:21

Clothesline Project: Breaking The Silence

Today I call your attention to The Clothesline Project of Tampa Bay, one of 300 chapters worldwide dedicated to breaking the silence and raising public awareness about violence against women.

A woman is battered every 14 seconds in the U.S., 24/7.

Every minute of every day, 24/7, a woman is raped in the U.S.

And 3-4 women are killed by their partners each day.

Despite this widespread misery, violence against females has been relegated to the sidelines as an unfortunate statistic of low priority.

To help raise consciousness about the need to change the values in this country that support such terrorism of women, women who have been the victims of violence are encouraged to express themselves on T-shirts which are then displayed for public viewing.

A form of art therapy, victims are provided with the art supplies and shirt necessary to make their statement about what has happened to them.

Clothesline's T-shirts are displayed this month by Laurie Sullivan at Sullivan Gallery in Tarpon Springs, Florida. The gallery will have an open house and fundraising auction Saturday. See the story in the St. Petersburg Times on-line.

Clothesline Project volunteers also work to assist victims in their healing by offering workshops and training sessions.

The work this organization is doing is beyond vital. Raising awareness and helping communities find solutions to heal the consciousness that allows the terrorism of women is something that not only every church should concern itself with, but our government.

Women are the backbone of the family. If they are not safe and secure, it jeopardizes the family and, thereby, the nation.

Having said that, it is important to understand that each of us contributes to human collective consciousness and, therefore, we all share in this problem. We can't foist it off on some agency. We each must each tackle this issue in our own heart.

Prayerforce: 365 Days To A New Life offers you the tools for doing the inner work of changing humanity's attitudes toward women. An entire section is filled with prayers for women and honoring the feminine. It can be ordered here.

For immediate on-line prayer help, I offer you this link to a Prayer for Freedom From Molestation.

God bless you and keep you safe.

Body: The Exhibit

Today I received an e-mail from a Christian friend of mine. Committed and sincere in her faith, Dianne Zalewski is a member of an active prayer group. She ministers to the sick through a hospital program and has attended vigils and protests in regard to ethical issues. I know of no one who lives her faith more actively.

Dianne attended Bodies: The Exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa. This is what she wrote me:

"'Bodies' at MOSI affected me on as many levels as there were layers revealed throughout the exhibit. My mind reeled at the complexities of the human body. My eyes drank in the beauty of the systems (e.g., skeletal, muscular, circulatory, digestive). My heart raced at the expertise that preserved these human beings and their dignity.

At the end of the exhibit, comment folders were filled with praises for the scientists, promises to quit smoking, statements by doctors that all medical students and workers would benefit from attending, exclamations that there must be a God, and comparisons to the Chicago exhibit -- claiming that MOSI's was better.

I believe that those who declaim this exhibit as not respectful have not gone to see for themselves. The atmosphere inside is as reverent and quiet as a church. If the proof is in the pudding, one only need watch the people attending. There is no snickering, laughing or rude pointing. Instead, people display respect for the wonders of the human body and the majesty of God. This experience is nothing short of awe-inspiring and thought-provoking.

Unfortunately, we felt we had to race to MOSI Thursday morning before someone managed to close it down. Based on the crowds present on opening day, I hope public outcry will keep this amazing exhibit open for a very long time."

On August 19th, the St. Petersburg Times ran a story giving visitor's reactions.

Yesterday the New York Times published an article on this exhibit.

The reported reactions of attendees have been, far and away, positive.

My understanding is that the objections that were originally raised came from Christians who think the exhibit is demeaning to humans and an "insult to life."

As a result of their protests, Florida's state medical board and the Florida attorney general have gotten involved over "ethical" issues and have recommended the closing of the exhibit.

This is unfortunate, for as one visitor was quoted:

"You can't get this kind of education in a textbook."

Once again we have an unnecessary clash between a certain type of Christian and science. Once again, a certain type of Christian is denying the need for knowledge in the real world, a world that has a multitude of illnesses and diseases and which desperately needs education about how the body develops and works.

I wish I could embrace this person and reassure him or her that information is not his or her enemy. The truth about the human body and our universe will make us free if we are willing to look at it and have faith that "all things work together for good."

Fear is a terrible thing that can shut down what we most need. But as a great man once said: There is nothing to fear but fear itself.

May fearlessness be with you.

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. Romans 1:20

Still In The Middle-Ages

Why are some Christians painting themselves into a corner that will, eventually, exclude both God and science?

I read a story today about a dinosaur exhibit that is part of a "creationist" museum.

It is designed to bring kids in - because of the dinosaurs - and then tell them that dinosaurs did not live 65 million years ago as radio carbon dating shows, but lived less than 10,000 years ago, a figure arrived at by creationists as being consistent with what they have interpreted as Earth's "biblical age."

Creationists further assert that dinosaurs were present on Noah's ark even though the discovery of the existence of dinosaurs occurred around 1820 and there is absolutely no reference to them in ancient times or in the Bible.

The logic justifying this literal interpretation of the Bible is rooted in this premise put forth by the museum's founder, G.T. Sharp who said: "If we lose Genesis as a legitimate scientific and historical explanation for man, then we lose the validity of Christianity. Period."
That statement, to me, is astonishing.

It compares with the position of the Catholic church at the time when Copernicus (1473-1543) offered his theory that the earth revolved around the sun as opposed to the theory that had been proposed by Ptolemy (ca. 100 - ca. 170) fifteen hundred years earlier - which was endorsed by the Pope as being consistent with the Bible - that the sun revolved around the earth.

Because of the power of the church to suppress, Copernicus published his work anonymously at first and circulated it just among colleagues and friends. A later publication contained an introduction stating his work was "just" a mathematical theory which enabled the calculation of the positions of the heavenly bodies to be made more simply as opposed to being an actual description of physical reality.

It is speculated that had he come out and said he was describing physical reality, the work would never have been read. The Pope was a Biblical literalist and biblical interpretations claimed that man - and therefore the earth - was the center of the universe.

Copernicus himself knew there would be critics. In De revolutionibus orbium coelestium he writes:

Perhaps there will be babblers who, although completely ignorant of mathematics, nevertheless take it upon themselves to pass judgment on mathematical questions and, badly distorting some passages of Scripture to their purpose, will dare find fault with my undertaking and censure it.

He was correct.

Galileo (1564-1642), who embraced Copernican views of the universe, was put under house arrest and forced to recant them. (Misner, C. W.; Thorne, K. S.; and Wheeler, J. A. Gravitation. San Francisco, CA: W. H. Freeman, 1973, p. 38)

Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) who refused to recant the truth was arrested by ecclesiastical authorities during The Inquisition and put on trial for his Copernican and other "real world" beliefs. After a seven year trial, he was put to death by burning.

Despite denials, torture and murder by scriptural literalists, today we enjoy amazing improvements to our lives through medicine and technology based upon the new ground charted by these early scientists.

It is ironic, therefore, that while Christians readily accept the mathematical science that gives them all the benefits of modern medicine and technology, they deny that same science when it is used in support of the theory of evolution.

However, denial did not stop truth in the Middle Ages and, God willing, it will not stop truth now.

Radio Carbon Dating, which proves that dinosaurs lived 65 million years ago - and not 10,000 years ago - cannot be denied, just as we cannot deny that the earth revolves around the sun.

To refuse to accept the truth is to embrace the same mindset of those who lived five hundred years ago and lacked our sophisticated technologies and testing.

In all fairness to those who are having trouble accepting a new paradigm for God's method of creation, just as Copernicus' theories completely changed humanity's world view of itself, so does carbon dating require a complete re-writing of the evolution and cultural emergence of the human species. And large changes in human consciousness require time for transition.

However, it is troubling that some Christians cannot conceive of a God that creates through evolution, being ready to reject Him unless He has created magically like some Wizard in the sky.

This brings Jesus' words from Mark 12 24-27 to mind:

Are you not therefore mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God? He is not the God of the dead, [the ancient scriptures are in the past and about the dead, stop arguing about them] but the God of the living [who can help you be your best and most loving self today]. You are therefore greatly mistaken [in arguing about such things].

How God created the world is irrelevant. We know He created it because it exists and we feel Him. We see His hand in our lives.

So what is relevant?

Love.

Treating our fellow human beings as we would have God treat us. Continuing to evolve emotionally and spiritually because we still have a long way to go if we are going to fulfill God's desire for us and see peace on earth. Having a faith that requires no "facts" because we feel God in our lives. Taking time to seek silence each day and feel the Presence of God within us. Giving God's love instead of withholding it. Alleviating suffering and spreading joy.

That is what is important, not arguing that dinosaurs walked the earth ten thousand years ago when radio carbon dating has given us a timeline for the earth that spans hundreds of millions of years.

We can never win by making science and God mutually exclusive.

God created everything, including science. Why be afraid of it?

For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Romans 11:29

If Jesus were here he would again ask us:

Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? Mark 4: 40

Scientists are getting very close to giving us proof of the existence of God. Once they do, like it or not, Christians will have to come out of the dark ages and accept that God created us through nature, through process and over a very long time. This is why pursuing peace is so critical.

It has taken millions of years for God to create us and bring us to this point. He means for us to be love incarnated on earth. We still have a long way to go.

Originally you were clay. From being mineral, you became vegetable. From vegetable, you became animal, and from animal, man. During these periods man did not know where he was going, but he was being taken on a long journey nonetheless. And you have to go through a hundred different worlds yet. There are a thousand forms of mind.

- Jallaludin Rumi

Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16

The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men! Acts 14:11

Do we really want to throw away His painstaking work - and our time here on earth - arguing about dinosaurs?

Brother Roger: Visionary Mystic

Today I discovered the existence of Taize, an ecumenical community of Brothers in Taize, France.

Founded by Roger Louis Schutz-Marsauche, known for decades as Brother Roger, Taize has been dedicated to peace and reconciliation since its founding in 1941 during the atrocities of World War II.

Brother Roger taught that inner silence is a prerequisite for prayer and the resolution of inner conflicts.

In our world of tension and anxiety, in which we are besieged by the presence of inner and outer conflicts, he taught all who came to him to strive after inner silence in order to hear God. He spoke about how each person has God inside him and God will lead the sincere petitioner toward love.

His philosophy is contained in this quote from an essay by Patrick J. Burke:

"Keep inner silence always, and you will dwell in Christ," for that inner silence "makes possible our conversation with God."

Admired and befriended by Popes and people world wide, Brother Roger was loved and visited by thousands. Peace pilgrims packed his services daily to hear prayer and intercession for peace and the resolution of conflict.

I write to you today of the 90-year-old Brother Roger because I was not aware of him and you may not be either.

However, I write in the past tense because he has been murdered.

This is a great loss for the peace community of the world.

But it is no accident.

Brother Roger was intimately connected with God. When we are intimately connected with God and listening, we are kept safe unless there is a higher purpose for our death.

Brother Roger's death has such a higher purpose.

By being killed, his community has been catapulted into the news. Many, such as myself, will now hear about his work, his approach to conflict resolution and how he made a difference.

And this is crucial.

It is crucial that we hear more about efforts to dissolve conflict and create peace, for the world is in desperate need of it as, ironically, his death clearly shows.

It is one thing to expect to have your throat slit when you are in Baghdad.

It is another thing, entirely, to be subject to the danger of having your throat slit when you are beloved by all and in the midst of worshippers during a prayer service in what would, otherwise, be an idyllic setting in France.

The point is this: we are approaching critical mass in raising awareness for the need for peace.

We are approaching critical mass in the number of people who realize peace is not accomplished by doing something out there, but by resolving conflicts in here, in the human heart.

We are approaching critical mass in the number of people who realize that establishing peace can only be done one person at a time, one inner transformation at a time and who are working to transform themselves.

When that critical mass is reached, we will see dramatic changes with hostilities and outer conflicts resolving, for Macroscosm mirrors Microscosm.

Yet those aspects of human collective consciousness which are in opposition to peace are not going to give up control of our collective human psyche without acting out.

The aspect of murder, that exists within all of us, was acted out through a fearful and enraged - deranged - woman.

While some might use it as an argument against peace and an invalidation of Brother Roger's message, it is important to see its true purpose.

Brother Roger was ninety years old. He had accomplished what he came here to do. Instead of dying peacefully - and unnoticed - in his bed, his death has called attention to his work and shows us the urgency of redoubling our efforts.

Therefore, do not give in to hate or anger or regret.

When the innocent are killed, we are human, so we feel. So cry, yes. Grieve, yes.

But allow hate or fear to claim you?

No.

Realize Brother Roger was a mystic.

He, like Christ, was killed so we would learn a lesson and remember: we have no time to waste. Innocent blood will continue to be spilled, in the most unlikely of places, until we commit to walking the talk of Christ.

Pray for Brother Roger. Send him silent thanks for his example and work.

Then honor that work by asking God to help you forgive all who murder, including the woman who killed him.

Affirm that you are the Hand of God working for Peace.

Affirm that all conflicts within you resolve and that more and more people, like you, are able to send out peace and love - no matter how unbearable the hurt - in order to create a new world in which those we love are not taken away senselessly.

Give thanks that humanity is changing and that Brother Roger's murder is evidence - no matter how strange it seems - of how effective we are being.

Above all, refuse to see this woman - or any other person who frightens or threatens - as an enemy.

Jesus urged us to dissolve the idea of "enemies." He said as recorded in Luke 6:35-37:

But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.

Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.

Judge not, and you shall not be judged.

Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned.

Forgive and you will be forgiven.

When we are able to do this in our minds, incidences of murder and war will begin to decrease and we will never again see someone so good as Brother Roger killed.

For would we care if the evil were killed? No. We would applaud the murder.

But all murder is wrong. Therefore the good and the innocent are murdered so that we make the decision to do something to heal it.

Let us, therefore, re-dedicate our lives to Christ and to peace today.

Catholic Hospital Dedicates Meditation Room

Today I call your attention to a wonderful news story by James MacPherson of the Associated Press. It was posted 7/28/05 and is currently on-line at GrandForksHarold.com:

"BISMARCK, N.D. - Sherman Iron Shield used to sneak his son behind some elevators at St. Alexius Medical Center to burn sacred herbs, hoping to chase away evil spirits without setting off fire alarms and sprinklers.

The practice, known as smudging, along with modern medicine, helped his son, George, recover from a gunshot wound to the head nearly a dozen years ago, he said.

"My son is still alive," Iron Shield said.

On Thursday, the hospital dedicated a $350,000 solarium and meditation room that may be used for such things as burning sage, cedar or sweetgrass, or for singing or drumming."

What is remarkable about this story is that this hospital is Catholic.

Instead of fighting - or preaching against - other religions and expressions of spirituality, this Catholic Hospital chose love. This hospital chose to honor the needs of its patients and, therefore, chose to honor The Living God over doctrine.

The Director of Pastoral programs stated that this meditation room is the first of its kind. Surely it will not be the last.

By the Grace of God, one day everyone in the world will understand that everything we do with love and positive intention is a prayer to God.

If we drum with intense love and the intention to evoke God's power to heal, we are being just as effective - and as close to God - as when we recite The Lord's Prayer.

If we burn sage in a ritual to banish negative energy, we are simply using a ritual to evoke blessing, similar to when a priest comes to bless a new home using a crucifix and holy water.

There are so many ways different people feel God, acknowledge God and worship God.

A Catholic practices a meditation in chanting the rosary. A Buddhist practices a meditation in chanting a Buddhist mantra while fingering prayer beads.

Both are affirming blessing by impressing their minds with positive thought that will allow God to work through them.

However we connect with God, what is important is that we do connect, in private, and with a feeling of honor and sacrament and willingness to be vehicles for good.

Having a meditation room in a hospital to facilitate spiritual healing is a brilliant and loving idea.

Now that there is one faith-based hospital that is so loving, enlightened and dedicated to healing that it has established a meditation room, let us affirm that God opens the hearts and minds of all hospital administrators.

Let us affirm that they take note of this wonderful action and follow in the footsteps of those at St. Alexius.

Your In Christ,

Robert Cushing: Man of Conscience

If we let people see that kind of thing, there would never again be any war.

~Pentagon official explaining why the U.S. military censored graphic footage from the Gulf War

Fr. Robert Cushing has been relieved of his duties at his Augusta, GA. Parish.

Why?

Because he was so moved through meeting survivors of the A-bomb blasts in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, that he went to Japan to apologize for the dropping of those bombs.

Rather than applauding him and following in his footsteps, defensive members in the Parish, operating out of misplaced patriotism and in opposition to Christ's message of love and mercy, have created turmoil in the Parish with insistence that he be fired.

Yet, Liberty and democracy become unholy when their hands are dyed red with innocent blood. ~Gandhi, Non-violence in Peace and War, 1948

And to justify the dropping of an atomic bomb is to assure that we are not ruling it out for the future.

As Pope John Paul II said in a speech at the U.N.; Will... the threat of common extermination continue?... Must children receive the arms race from us as a necessary inheritance?

No. We can change.

In considering how we may change, I offer you a verse from Rumi, the most popular poet in North America today, thanks to the translations by Coleman Banks.

Rum talks about the timeless questions in life: uniting with our Creator, learning love, compassion and forgiveness.

In The Worm's Waking he shows us the goal toward which we are striving: to understand we are one with our Creator.

When we finally "get" that, we will revere all that we see and lose our addictions to violence and over consumption.

When we truly feel our oneness with God, we will be empty of the desire to destroy others "to be safe" because we will understand we can never achieve safety by killing a part of God.

The Worm's Waking

This is how a human being can change:

there's a worm addicted to eating
grape leaves.

Suddenly, he wakes up,
call it grace, whatever, something
wakes him, and he's no longer
a worm.

He's the entire vineyard,
and the orchard too, the fruit, the trunks,
a growing wisdom and joy
that doesn't need
to devour.

- Rumi, in The Essential Rumi as translated by Coleman Banks

And in the words of Jesus:

Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.

Judge not, and you shall not be judged.

Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned.

Forgive and you will be forgiven.

If you feel so moved, write a letter or call Fr. Michael Roverse in support of Fr. Cushing. Encourage him to be brave, trust in Christ and reinstate Fr. Cushing.

St. Teresa of Avila Church
211 Pleasant Home Road
Augusta, Georgia 30907-3517
(706) 863-0252

Please also pray for the resolution of this terrible - and foolish - rift in a church over a man of God being merciful and practicing compassion.

- Peace be with you

Heal Your Body

One of the arguments against belief in God is that believers often have as many or more illnesses as non-believers.

The idea is that if there is a power that can help us, then we who pray "should" be healthier and happier.

While it's best to refrain from unfairly judging the quality of another's relationship with God or the value of faith to anyone else, these people make a good point.

Why is it that so many people who pray and are sincerely reverent have terrible burdens of illness and pain?

Traditional thinking tells us it is "God's way" to make us humble.

Nonsense.

For God is not the author of confusion but of peace - 1 Corinthians 14:33

God is loving. God doesn't want to create confusion for us by making us suffer. He sent His son to try and get through to us what we had to do to manifest the amazing Kingdom of God within each of us.

Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? - 1 Corinthians 3:16

The problem we have is our misunderstanding of how our subconscious thoughts affect our bodily processes.

There are reasons for every illness. Yet most of us remain completely baffled by the illnesses and diseases we have, wondering why we have them.

We then clutch at straws, blaming one thing after another: our DNA, pollutants, poor medical care, what we eat. But the Bible clearly says:

Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man. Matthew 15:11

(Also see Mark 7:15)

It is what we think and the ideas that go round and round inside us that determine whether we flourish or become ill.

Those ideas program the subconscious that then - according to "our wish" - brings us into contact with contaminants, triggers problems and creates the scenario that brings about illness.

Palm 106:15: He gave them what they asked...a wasting disease among them.

Fortunately for us, there is a woman who figured this out and put some reasons as to why we have certain illnesses and diseases down in a book.

Her name is Louise Hay and her book, the very first she wrote over twenty years ago, is Heal Your Body.

I found Heal Your Body about fifteen years ago and began to experiment with healing myself using Hay's information to change the way I thought.

I also used the information in Heal Your Body to create prayers. (Some of them are in Prayerforce: 365 Days To A New Life.)

The result is that I have come to depend upon Heal Your Body as an accurate guide to how I am creating problems that result in pain or illness.

Why? It works.

I have received relief and healing through the years by adopting Hay's reasons and affirmations into prayers, and this has been a Godsend.

If you are ill but are not familiar with Heal Your Body, I urge you to pick up a copy. See if Hay's reasons for whatever is bothering you do not ring true.

If they do, then pray using her affirmations. You may be amazed at the results.

I always am.

Divine Mind = Quantum Field

Mystics have called Him: Divine Mind. The descriptions they have given for Divine Mind now fit those ascribed by physicists to The Quantum Field.

Deepak Chopra, M.D., has written eloquently and extensively on this and on the connection between spirituality and healing. He has written 26 books translated into 35 languages. His main message is this:

Everything that we experience as material reality is born in an invisible realm beyond space and time, a realm revealed by science to consist of information and energy. This invisible source of all that exists is not an empty void but the womb of creation itself.

That womb of creation is God - our loving, generous and magnanimous God.

And we are hardwired to Him.

No matter what we call God - Divine Mind, Allah, Quantum Field - our Creator created with us in mind.

What we speak, think and believe affects Divine Mind - or the Quantum Field - and these ideas, literally, become our prayers because we are connected 24/7.

If we are focusing primarily on negative things, then we are giving God not love, but negativity.

As ye sow, so do ye reap, so what we contribute to the Quantum Field comes back to us.

It is essential for Christians to understand the basis of our faith and the nature of our God.

Arguing semantics - about whose religious is "right" - is supremely unuseful. It is akin to arguing about how many angels fit on the head of a pin.

Resolving the conflicts in our minds and sending love to God and our fellow men is supremely helpful and will create the world we want.

Let us redouble our efforts today to learn to love ourselves and others and resolve the inner conflicts that are causing us so much misery.

We can have a different world.

1 Corinthians 3:16:

Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

The Noble Cause

Cindy Sheehan is a brave woman.

She continues to question George Bush about his statements regarding the war and its justification.

Last Saturday she went to President Bush's ranch in Texas to ask him to clarify a statement he made recently that those who have died in Iraq - including her son - have died for "a noble cause."

She wanted to know which part of it was noble. Was it the destruction of order, infrastructure, water delivery systems, economy and society so that there is no power, water or jobs?

Was it putting the educated in Iraq out of work so they would have no choice but to join the Iraqi guard if they want to feed their families?

Was it the killing of over 100,000 Iraqi civilians, many of them children?

Perhaps it is the fact that over 25% of Iraq's children are now starving, they are so severely malnourished.

Could it be the crippling of over 40,000 American service men and women?

Or maybe the nobility comes in tearing the hearts out of those Americans who have lost their children to this war?

Was it defying the U.N. and the world and attacking a nation that had not attacked us?

Was it creating chaos so terrorism and civil war would flourish in Iraq?

As Harold Meyerson wrote in The Washington Post on 6/22/05 "More than two years after Saddam Hussein's statue was toppled, the drive from downtown Baghdad to the airport is still a crapshoot with death."

Or does it lie in the disappearance of six billion dollars of Iraq's oil which many suspect was siphoned off to American interests?

Except to the psychopath, none of these consequences can be considered worth the price of going to war.

Thus it enrages Cindy Sheehan and she grieves over the fact, even as she grieves over the loss of her son, that there was never a noble cause, but lies and political agendas that took us to war and took her son.

When interviewed, she says anger fuels her, but it seems like something more, like a holy anger from a normally loving God who knows that we, as a nation, have committed a great atrocity by invading Iraq and wreaking so much havoc.

For the United States was founded by spiritual men who brought her into existence to fulfill a noble destiny - to honor the human spirit.

Unfortunately, that idea of having a noble purpose has turned into an arrogant superiority that says anything we do - no matter how destructive - is part of that noble cause.

And this is the drum that this President and his advisors are beating, for their own ends.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Honesty and dedication to speaking out against the lie that killing other people is ever noble is desperately needed if we are ever to get back on track.

Clarity about the difference between fighting back when you are invaded - versus invading another country on falsified reports of having weapons - is desperately needed if America ever hopes to get back on her divine path.

A spiritual thread from our founding fathers is running through Cindy Sheehan.

For our flag is tainted, as she so eloquently has said, and our nation deeply divided.

The suffering she and so many have gone through - and are going through - is brushed under the rug and stamped with a happy face.

We cannot go on like this. The truth must out, we must withdraw as the Iraqis want and we must turn to peace.

Remember, Germany considered herself a Christian nation when she made her plans for the ovens and invaded Austria with intentions of conquering the world.

Calling oneself a Christian does not make it so. Only attempting to "walk the talk" of following the path of Christ accomplishes that.

The true noble cause, as he told us in Luke 6:35-37, is pursuing the path of peace.

But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.

Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.

Nothing less will return us to our true noble cause.

Sacred Intent: Buried By Greed

Former Vietnam veteran Chris Christensen, who lives in a small Texas town, has traditionally voted Republican and owns guns, tells the story of his son's 19 year old friend, Christopher, who died in Iraq.

A product of our culture which celebrates violence through film, television and video games, that child had no idea what he was in for. It was all an exciting game for him in which he would get to leave his humdrum life in a small town and be "a hero."

He did not die a hero. He died a victim of a lifetime of programming that prepared him for sacrifice.

America is on the wrong path.

Our sacred intent - the one which inspired our founding fathers to found this country for the purpose of nurturing the human spirit - has been buried by greed.

Our culture is dominated by those who make money through producing products that are crushing us with urges toward violence.

And the administration of this country is filled with men who have no problem sacrificing others to political and power amassing agendas that benefit them and the countless corporations that benefit financially from wars.

Divine intent has turned into arrogant destruction.

Yet few Americans truly grasp just how far from her ideals America has gone.

But there are no victims, only volunteers.

It is up to us to pay attention, to ask the hard questions and make the difficult choices that will stop feeding our society's addiction to violence and chaos.

It must start with us and our children. For we are the ones who bring our children in the world and then allow such forces to pollute them so they are not able to differentiate between a war of last resort and a war of choice.

We are the ones raising children who think it would be an adventure to go and blow up a "few Iraqis."

We are in control of the remote, the television and what is bought and played.

If we do not come wake up from the hypnosis under which we have been placed by the media, if we do not begin making those hard choices and decide - no matter what - to learn to choose peace, our nation will continue on this path and we will become a sea of tears.

Ezekiel 6:5-6:

I will lay the corpses of the children ...before their idols, and I will scatter your bones all around your altars.

In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate, so that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, your idols maybe be broken and made to cease...and your works may be abolished.

Our children are becoming corpses for the sake of our idols - violence, materialism and false pride.

Is the price worth it?

Have No Enemies

Have no enemies.

Refuse to recognize anyone as an enemy.

Affirm that God keeps you safe and is reuniting this country in love.

We all rise or we all fall together.

Pray for those who are so afraid - and distrustful - of following Christ's real message that they look for enemies within the Christian community.

Affirm that God opens their eyes and dissolves their fears, for they are under the sway of not God's law, but ...another law in [their] members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing [them] into captivity to the law of sin which is in [their] members. Romans 7:23

That law is based in fear.

We all have the same struggle, the same choice between love and fear.

So forgive them - know that they do not know what they do - and entreat God to keep you safe from such bitter messages that would set Christian against Christian or non-believer against believer.

Then continue working to bring Christ's vision to earth by example, by embodying love and peace - and good humor.

We are all one. Affirm this for the good of all.

We can know peace in our time, we can know an end to terrorism in our time.

But we need a commitment from you to learn unconditional love.

Will you commit to Christ's message of love and peace today?

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28

Wolf In Sheep's Clothing - Part III

As discussed yesterday, there is a call to identify "enemies" on the homepage of a major Christian website.

And this call is not about terrorists in any sense of the word, but refers to those in this country who simply do not support that organization's ideological agendas.

Did Jesus Christ ever tell us to do this? To look for enemies?

You know the answer is "no."

On the contrary, Jesus wanted to dissolve the idea of "enemies." He said as recorded in Luke 6:35-37:

But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.

Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.

Judge not, and you shall not be judged.

Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned.

Forgive and you will be forgiven.

Jesus is, in effect, saying treat everyone alike. Make no differentiation and do not label anyone an enemy nor treat him as one.

Therefore, any group that calls itself Christian but focuses on labeling others - especially Christians - as enemies because of ideological differences is working in opposition to Christ's message.

They are urging us to create more hell on earth, not heaven.

As tempting as it is to continue in the old "us vs. them" thinking, that is precisely the thinking that Jesus came, over two thousand years ago, to persuade us to abandon.

However, that kind of thinking continues to increase our conflicts.

It has come to the point that our nation is deeply divided - over what is "proper" Christianity! But we cannot remain strong as "one nation under God" with such a conflict being waged.

We must - each of us - be willing to let go of the thinking that divides us.

If you have any doubt about what I am saying, simply look at the inconsistency between saying "love thy neighbor" while on the other hand saying "identify certain of your neighbors - members of your nation and of your religion - as your enemies."

This is false teaching when compared with Christ's words. Do not allow yourself to fall prey to such false ideas that contradict Christ's directions.

Such thinking is damaging to us all.

Yet, please do not fall into thinking that those who are distorting Christ's message are enemies. They are not.

They merely represent the part of collective humanity that has gotten Christ's message wrong, having bent it to fit old patterns of hate and separation from God.

Instead of fearing them, send them an inner prayer of thanks and let them inspire you to make a decision today to redouble your efforts to live Christ's message.

Decide not to preach ABOUT Christ, but LIVE Christ.

In other words, live as He lived.

And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. 1 Corinthians 12:26

God bless you.

Wolf In Sheep's Clothing - Part II

Today there are groups that call themselves Christian, yet encourage hate and divisiveness. They label others as enemies and themselves as "true believers."

Unfortunately, the term "wolf in sheep's clothing" fits them well.

Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about.

One of these groups has a wonderful title that claims it is for both religion and democracy. Yet when you read their website and philosophy, this group would appear to be for stamping out any version of religion or democracy that does not fit its member's definitions and dictates.

Groups like this appear to want to remove love out of Christ's message completely.

Yet they ensnare good and loving people using Christ's name and collect a lot of money to further an agenda against tolerance.

Let me give you one excerpt from one of these websites as it talks about how to write an effective fundraising letter: (italics are mine)

"The letter identifies obstacles that are blocking the strategy and enemies that are resisting it. And, in conclusion, it asks for the constituents' support to overcome those obstacles and defeat those enemies...All this is accomplished in a few pages of plain English."

"So, when friends passed the IRD copies of a recent National Council of Churches (NCC) fundraising letter, we were professionally interested to see how the council would practice the art of fundraising. How would General Secretary Bob Edgar define the NCC's mission? How would he explain its strategy? Whom would he identify as its enemies?"

Tell me Beloved, why is there a need to identify enemies?

Why is there a need to identify enemies on a Christian website?

Did Christ ever tell us to identify enemies?

I will discuss this more tomorrow.

Wolf in Sheep's Clothing - Part I

There is a saying: Beware of the wolf in sheep's clothing.

Christ came down to a world of men intent on separating the world into friend and foe.

He entered a world in which men took pleasure in identifying and trying to destroy those they - erroneously - identified as enemies.

In such a world - and you have seen it - people accuse others based upon scant evidence, out of fear or in order to gain advantages or power. They act holier-than-thou, pointing the finger at others, but the result is that their false creation of enemies creates confusion, chaos, violence, pain and misery for many.

So it was a big part of Christ's message when he told us that the answer to all the confusion and pain in life is simply to forgive and view no man as our enemy.

To show us how, He taught by example, living a life of tolerance and peace, practicing kindness and alleviating suffering wherever he could.

Why did he show us this way of living and urge us to it?

Because it is against spiritual law to set oneself up against others.

We are all One in God and to be against others is, literally, to be against part of yourself. This is what religious terrorists and fanatics have misunderstood:

To despise another is to despise God and to despise a part of yourself.

Therefore, do not cultivate grudges or hate for others, for those who preach hate and revenge must always, eventually, self-destruct so to eliminate their disruptive influence, if they refuse to change.

For God is not the author of confusion but of peace.

- 1 Corinthians 14:33

The Need For Silence

In Luke 8: 5-15, Jesus gives us the parable of seed cast upon different surfaces and likens that seed - "for those who can hear" - to the Word of God.

Now, as in Jesus' time, many cannot hear.

The Word falls upon those who are not listening.

It falls on people with minds as stubborn as rocks who refuse to try anything different.

The Word enters the ears of people who get excited for a while but find it takes effort to get the harvest and give up before the roots of new consciousness have taken hold.

And The Word of God also falls on many whose minds "are choked with cares, riches and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity," at least not the fruit God wishes us to grow which is love.

It is uncanny how well these words fit us, today.

Our lives are so full of cares, riches, the pleasure of life. We do not bring God's fruit - love and peace - to maturity. There is so much stimuli filling our brains and nervous systems that it is small wonder our culture has spawned "chronic fatigue syndrome."

Think of it.

The signs, the media; so many plucking at our sleeves to buy this and that, look at this and that, believe this and that.

There is so much we are "supposed" to be aware of in our modern culture, most of it pretty trivial when we get down to it.

In the midst of it all, it is difficult to just stop and try to listen to God and let the seeds of the Holy Spirit - of love and peace - grow within us.

If you find yourself just wanting to stop and take time out to get away from the noise and demands, do it.

Go lie under a tree on the grass. Pretend you're a kid again with nothing to do. Or go to the beach and watch the water. Or take a walk in a forest.

Feel the peace that silence brings.

We need time alone - time in silence - to hear the one really important voice in our lives: God.

May God help you create time in which to really relax - and be with Him - today.