Something to chew on…

The assembly really is not just a congregation, not just the coming together of people for services, meetings, conventions, etc., but the bringing together of individual heart exercise in the appreciation of the Lord Jesus in such a way that the Father can see His Son’s features expressed in human lives. That is the true nature of assembly life…

…each brings his own apprehension and appreciation of the Lord Jesus and all are united together in the assembly, the Father can look down and see the various features of His Son. That is the testimony of Jesus on earth: that is Christ tabernacling among us. As each one follows on to know the Lord in private, personal life history, so new discoveries are made of the virtues and values of God’s Son, and these are brought together in assembly life. When we have made such new discoveries of the grace of Christ we can come together with other children of God and speak and sing together of what we have proved experimentally in a living way and so we become a collective and corporate representation of the house of God.

T.A.S.

You can read the entire article here.

‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways’
declares the LORD…….. ‘my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts’. Isaiah 55:8-9. I could spend hours letting His Spirit reveal this passage through my life.

One of my primary talents, as the Bible calls it, is to play music skillfully. I have served on Worship teams at Churches for 15 years. My last assignment was serving a church of nearly 3,000 people. I was a music director for the nearly 80 strong Worship team, & served as alter ministry helper, and an intercessor for the senior Pastor and members of his leadership. It was both fulfilling, & invigorating. Then, God commanded me to resign those positions November 2008, and I began a 53 week long Wilderness journey.

Mouse & I had been attending the weekly meetings held by Eileen Fisher Ministries since June 2008. In May 2009 the Lord spoke clearly, and confirmed that He wanted me to to lead Worship for this Tuesday night gathering. To decline would be tantamount to sinning, the voice of the Lord was so clear. So, I agreed.

Just a few months ago I was reflecting on another positive meeting with Eileen. People were taken into His presence, He spoke clearly to us, and hurting people were restored and given words of hope. It was everything I could ask for.

That night, as I was journaling, the Lord showed me my progression, in terms of congregation size. (I am not a ‘church hopper’) The first church I served was 500 strong, the 2nd 1000, the third 350, my last assignment was 3,000. Then the Holy Spirit spoke and what He said next stopped me in my tracks.

‘Where you are serving now represents the largest Kingdom promotion to date’

That was incredibly satisfying to hear, for it meant I was in the center of His will, running the race, and even a suggestion of yet a greater future and hope. Then it struck me, this is by far, the smallest congregation I’ve ever served at…. 50-75 people. That’s it.

In man’s eyes, if I went from a sphere of influence of 3,000 people, to 50-75 people, this would hardly be considered a promotion, it would be tormenting and probable cause to say ‘I have abysmally failed’. Yet, this is proof positive for me that God’s methods cannot be paralleled to the training and mindset of this world. I believe God’s methods are much like Salvador Dali Artwork. Amazing to behold, but unconventional, your mind is challenged to echo ‘this shouldn’t be, it defy’s reason & probability’

Salvador Dali's 'Persistence of memory'

My encouragement to you today is this. If you know that you are in the center of His will, then despite current circumstances, trust He has His hand firmly on the wheel. You have not failed, you may have just been reassigned, or you’re in training for His greater purposes in you. We must not look with our natural eyes, but rather meditate on Isaiah 55:8-9 and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal how this passage applies to our lives today.

Historically, the Devil has played a big part in barter, trade, and retail folklore.

Mephistopheles, the old retail master, has come a long way since that Faust legend of trading a soul for a wife.

These days we seem to be making all manner of deals with the Devil.

But the Devil doesn’t just want your soul anymore.

His standards for fair trade have changed a bit.

Hell is presently experiencing an economic glut in souls—supply is exceeding demand.

Mephistopheles will now accept other fees.

So if you’re looking for a good deal, Carpe Diem!

And right before Christmas, too!

Now, I’m no investment specialist, but I have noticed some real bargaining going on out there in the fray of our dealings with the Devil.

Most of these bargains come with Ginsu knives and many offer bonus deals if you dial 1-800-Gimme right now.

But if you go straight to the Devil’s warehouse, you can look in the Vanity Aisle, on the Convenience Shelf, into the Ignorance Case, (the one with fool proof glass) and on the Sale Rack of Fate, to find these special items and strike a bargain with the old trade master, in person.

Descriptions of what you can buy…and…What it will cost you—later.

Personal Convenience:

Easy to install and operate.

Runs on complete lack of responsibility with rechargeable credit cards, loaded with immediate gratification.

Comes with automatic thought controls and a powerful, spontaneous consumption engine that may be steered rampantly over human value, extinct species, healthy food, and personal integrity, by corporate propaganda.

A very reliable generator of justifications has been built in by marketing experts.

On the receipt is a coupon for two round trip tickets to bathe in Moon water after making a mess on Earth.

Bonus feature: Sturdy petroleum base product with Banker seal of approval.

Price to be paid: Social and Ecological Bankruptcy

Security

Includes a colorful alert system and a monitor enhanced with a panoramic view of all your neighbors, a specially designed toggle switch that leans to the right for easy operation, and a temporary thrill seeking device that allows the user to experience intermittent shock waves through media manipulation, inducing a euphoric inspiration to get naked in airports and a self righteous exhilaration derived from profiling races other than one’s own.

Price to be paid : Ten Bills of Rights and some change

Emotional Comfort:

Comes with smooth to swallow pills and easy to digest health related labels, which are artistically created in think tanks and laboratories to accommodate any sensitive reaction to a culture that is completely irrational and short sighted.

Guaranteed to alleviate that nagging feeling that something is very wrong here.

Provides a quick fix to any questioning type thinking and maintains a palatable social climate with a built in pull string lullaby to abate any revolting side effects.

Price:  Your Mental Stability and Confidence in Reality

Complacency

Gently used, and gift wrapped by indigenous people who are being exploited in places you’ve never heard of, so you don’t have to think about them while global homogenization settles like dust on your imported furniture.

This item is user friendly with flexibly lined edges and non resistant conformity for superior feelings of entitlement and relaxation.

One size potentially fits all. Diversity not included.

Price: Your Humanity

Spirituality:

This is an exceptionally good deal since the Devil doesn’t really need your soul any more.

You can obtain this item outside the Devil’s warehouse without a contract.

There are a myriad of Con men, Cult leaders, Megalomaniacs, New Age Promulgators of invented truths, and Predators of your need to find answers in a world gone nuts, who are willing to give you this for mere cash.

But for those other things—and more, you’re evidently gonna have to cut a deal with Mephistopheles.

Unlike Dr Faustus, your exchange contract may stipulate a collection due date that extends beyond twenty four years, so your kids might have to pay for these purchases later, but Hey, you get to have ‘em now!

And…

You get to keep your *Soul!

Woo Hoo!

*May be limited to what’s in store.

Sweet like saccharine sugar
artificially false
that fray the tongue that begs for nothing more.
Stranger tastes that smell cannot detect
Existence flawed and chemical
Flying across an inter-universal landfill
in imperfect permanent stasis.
Preserved planet
in saccharine sugar
like pickled cherries
both of and not of
nature,
a manmade compromise,
creases across skin that cannot die,
marbled plastic in a billion shades.
Creation the creation created
turning the world into plastic
until mind is plastic,
matter is plastic.
Absolute frozen entropy.

Christ promises to be present

whenever we gather. 

Our responsibility is to show up

at the table of community

with a mutual love for one another.

Denise Pyles, M.Div.

We would like to dedicate this guided meditation on the Parsha of the Week to the Portland Kollel for their vision, dedication and many contributions to our community.    (http://www.portlandkollel.org/)

This week’s Torah Portion, Vayera, focuses on seeing.  Just as Avraham lifted up his eyes and saw three angels coming towards him and was transformed, this meditation focuses on seeing in new ways that lead to transformation.

Listen now by clicking here:  Vayera   (.mp3 format).   This audio file is 10 min. 15 sec. long.

The intention of this meditation is to focus on what influences you and to strengthen onself to stand firmly for what is right as Noach did.   What do you have the courage to stand up for?  What is essential to you?  What does it mean to walk with God?

Click here to download and listen: Noah . 

This meditation is 6 min. 14 sec.

It depends on how much we are holding on too right?  Would it be any surprise, or maybe it would even be delightful, if we discovered the rabbit hole was a lot deeper than we first suspected? Maybe… there is more to let go yet.  And maybe, it is going to take time. Or it could happen, all at the same time, even suddenly.  Regardless, if letting go of something that might seem like fly paper at times, can happen at all, at the very least there is good reason for hope, that a mind and will larger than what we currently recognize as whole, is within us.

How long does letting go take?  How long does it take to rest in what we know to be true, and give up wondering or doubt?  How long does it take to drop a hot coal?  How long does it take to drop something we never wanted to hold in the first place?  How long does it take to shift our perceptions to the point, that whatever we are holding on to, becomes a thing of the past and not a present danger?  Who can hold on to the present moment except by holding it in present awareness, as the past?

Letting go is not forgetting our loved ones or giving up our call for light and freedom in this world.  Letting go is simply letting go of the idea that this moment is not enough.  That things might be better if they were some other way  … the way they were perhaps.  It is only hard to let go when we think we are truly giving up something of value.  Keep what is Truly valuable to you, near and dear to your heart.  Let everything else go.  If  we have love for someone who has gone and we miss them for ex.  Keep the loving and let go of the missing.  Missing is the missing of the presence of their love.  Keep the awareness of them loving you.  Let go of anything else.

If we could only remember what is good,  what need would we have to let go of anything?

If we try to let go of our love, we will only find experiences of longing.  When reasons for fear are let go, reasons for peace are found.  When we let go of reasons for peace we find reasons for conflict, bitterness, and struggle.  If we let go of reasons for bitterness or resentment, we find forgiveness, love, and peace.  And so we find safety and the reasons for fear are gone.  So it seems letting go might take no time at all?  Because if we find ourselves struggling we must be letting go of peace in the heart this moment.  If we reside in peace we do so because we have been willing to let go of reasons for anything else.  Perhaps it is not so much how long letting go might take then, as it is perhaps what we are letting go of.  Keep what is truly valuable in the heart and let all else go, and what do we truly have but simple Love shining in our open awareness?

Largely this might appear to depend on who you might ask in this world right?  Because just as it might be said to be, good for you, even considered “healing” to the point of reducing the crime rate…. Just as it  might be said to be otherwise…. or of the dark side.

Perhaps not even rational??? (as in producing a real experience with rational explanation.)

What is meditation though if not focusing of attention, contemplation in a sense, or even a deep looking into right?  Just as it is perhaps to focus on the important and not the surface thoughts of the mind.  Who probably hasn’t felt like they could use a little more focus on the truly important things in life right?  What are the important things in life though?  If we meditate on this, and this alone, what could it lead to?

Is meditation intrinsically bad for us? Is it a risk we take in life?  And if it is, what do we risk losing by going there if there is within… where truth itself is said to be?  Who decides the place of looking? And how many places inside are there to look? What is in the space of our awareness, when getting quiet, going within, or being still is what is happening?  And what is there that is not safe to look upon then?  What can be unsafe about looking within?  If meditation is like a deep looking into, what is it deeply looking in to? Is it not said Heaven itself is within each person?  What is dangerous about finding such a place, if that is what we look to?

Meditation is not something we can choose not to do.  We are always focusing.  It is said what we focus on is where we are headed, or what we will eventually realize. It is like driving a car or walking down the street.  We can mange for short distances without watching where we are going… but over the long haul.  Like traveling cross country, we ultimately find laws in place that keep us from driving blindfolded.  It’s simply not safe for us or the other bodies around us.  Is meditation safe?  Is it it a bad idea?  Is focusing our awareness on what is happening right here and right now bad? Or is it more of a risky proposition, to move our focus from the moment? When is right now?  Are we there yet?  Who can say?

“I do not know what meditation is.  I have heard different things.  I have heard it put in different ways.  Some say this, others say that.  I want to know what it means in myself, if means that I might find peace.  Peace cannot be bad because it is promised eternal and this is all I truly want anyway.  I want to know peace because an eternal war could only lead to my own un-happiness.  I want happiness not war…especially if the war is inside myself, where I understand meditation takes place.  I want to know what mediation means, because I want to know peace inside of me.  Lord show me this day, in a way I can understand… etc”

Original digital painting of autumn’s rhythm and sounds–the deep tonal quality of the season orchestrated by the cello.

colors fall to ground
notes of stillness bend and sway
blending deep, rich sounds

Autumn’s rhythm adds a deep tonal quality to life. It is richer, stronger and more contemplative. I can listen for hours to the sounds of the season; to the colorful notes falling to the ground and vibrating my heart with gratitude.

– genece hamby, contemporary artist
To purcahse Autumn’s Rhythm http://www.shibuistudio.com/autumnsrhythm.html

Having just enjoyed a fantastic turkey feast and a good beer, I’ve plonked down on the sofa in the company of family, music, and some long-desired moments of care-free thought.  I like this time of year.

Even though a lot of people consider New Year’s a time for contemplation and change, I find that Winter is naturally my favorite and most thoughtful season, and it usually begins for me around Thanksgiving.  This holiday, as I mentioned in my previous entry, lends itself to taking a moment for contemplation.  But not in a sad way.  In a joyful way.

I’m contemplating, right now as I look out the living room window at the beautiful mountains calmly fading into night, just how much I have to be grateful for.  So much has gone right for me and I know, despite inevitable setbacks and challenges, I have a bright future.  Maybe someone older or more experienced would consider that a naive sentiment, or even unrealistic, but I think it is probable and born out of a healthy optimism.  Oftentimes, if we believe the positive reality we create in our minds, we will bring that reality into existence in our lives and the lives of others.

“Be the change you wish to see in the world,” is perhaps an overused quotation, easier said than done, but if I put those words into practice on a personal level, I believe I will reap the benefits in the long-term.  It is certainly easier to criticize what we see wrong with the world and in our own lives than to enact change.  But if we take the time to consider where we are and where we could be, if we are willing to work, I find myself pleasantly surprised to find there are far more dreams within my reach than I ever realized before.

But more importantly, I am grateful for what I already have.  To be in a place of contentment, and yet still yearning for new adventures and discovery in life, is a fine balance for me.  It provides me with satisfaction with where I am, but encourages me to never settle for what is easily attained, when some of the greatest experiences in life can be achieved by those who push their boundaries.

After years of not quite making it I have finally experienced the RCA’s Secret.  Every year since 1994 the RCA offers up the chance to cheaply buy art on a postcard;  the artists are a mixture of famous figures of the art world and students.  The twist is that you don’t know who the postcard is by until it is bought, a genius way to encourage people to buy for the love of the art and not the name.

I half wonder if the annual sale is organised by the RCA students because we found it hard work to find out how it all worked.  It’s not actually that complicated but the information doesn’t all appear in one place.  The works themselves were a mixture of beautiful, thought provoking and trite. I was surprised that out of the thousands on display there were so few that moved me enough to want to own them.  Although Adrian spotted a gem in this one…

"dear owner, a proposition enclosed." RCA Secret 2009

So if you buy it do you risk defacing it by opening it or not??

The fact that I found I couldn’t relate to much of the art on show got me thinking about art and, more importantly, artists.  To me an artist, a true artist, is someone who is driven to express themselves through their art.  Their art is a vital outlet for their personality and a part of their life that they need to feel complete.  I can understand musicians who need a creative release and expression through their music but art (painting, drawing, sculpture etc.) feels more alien to me.  What is it that means some people have such an affinity with visual expression?

I wonder if it is something to do with the expression of ideas, I enjoy looking at art and I could enjoy creating it but not as a form of expression. I get more from literature or music, to me, they say more.  When I say “more” I mean a greater number or depth of ideas are contained in one piece and that may say something about my knowledge of art and how to appreciate it.  This isn’t my final conclusion, there is more thought and drunken discussion to go into forming a view on this…

CAUTION

Cautious they watch me,

Judgmental they view—

Who does he think he is?—

Drinking champagne, listening to jazz—

I read, once and so long ago—that uneased

Them—I existed like text to be read only

In page.

These many years later—glutton—

Avaricious among us­—am guilty of

Any and all the seven sins—in heat,

Burning, burning—feel the fever from

The page—I am waiting, I am waiting—

Waiting for others to rise up from their

Own petty moments—they melt I am told

In the heat of your own brilliance—the best

Well-meaning words have to offer:  they slap

My face.  How—tell me—do puddles help me

Now?—a rotund monk—oblate, out of step

With this world, slipping in puddles—cassocked

In brown—a Jesuit heart, a Franciscan mind—

No community undergirding this fast fading Falstaff—

Cocktail, mixed, eye on the buffet:  Faulkner—

The Call—closed in one hand—Morrison—

The Response—fisted in The Other—poetic

Language escaping my mouth full of Easter

Memories and Pentecost dreams washed

Down by champagne and numbed by chocolate.

Cautious, cautious I am viewed—I am—listening

To Coltrane and Hartman—smooth as hot-chocolate

Wishes with a brandy sidecar—Shirley Horn waiting

Breathless in the wings—so again—­here’s to life­—

Cigar burning like incense in a thrift-store ashtray,

Turquoise and kidney-shaped—baby hands holding

The literature which killed me—baby feet still

Smooth—calloused not even by warehouse

Work—feral with Desire—I am only here—

Falstaff fading fast—remembering the September

Garage—this is not a poem—these are the words

They will find. 

I should like only just once to be unfevered—

Cold, like the forgetful foods in the freezer

In the garage—a refreshing bag of peas

A compress for my burning eyes—frost-bitten

Piece of flesh blackening the big toe in the fall—

The blissful dark of the garage, like the old

Confessionals, door closed against the chaos

Of the word, drawing in, drawing close to solitude

And contemplation—with jazz and champagne—

No need for a coffee—I’m buzzed enough—and

Piled at my feet—the literature which surely

Killed me.

Winter 2009

Dan Davis, © 2009

So many colors on a blank canvas. To paint the page with a story of one’s own land creates the sense of a  personal touch. Streaming out of such an approach I see the cow on the side of a foot path. She has been carefully adorned with numerous colours. I like to stop and stare at her. Her doe eyes stare on as time passes her by. She sees me and wonders what I hold to her face and why am I so taken up by her presence? She has been ordained with a sense of divinity by many a gaze upon her form. She is symbolic of a goddess sent to earth to guide mankind of a nation who in a sizable plurality have assumed her to be a savior. I notice the charisma that makes her aura. She is here to walk the footpaths of Bangalore and redeem the passerby from a harsh reality. She simply looks on as to tell me to move on and get on with my life. I can’t help but make a picture of the moment.

The cow

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

THE THANKSGIVING BABY

Rustie Earle

It was great to feel your baby kick, to feel it move around.

I hope that it’s healthy and happy, born weighing seven and one half pounds.

May you always remember, this is God’s gift from above,

And may each become guilty of smothering it with love.

Give Monte and Carolyn half a chance, they’ll spoil this baby for shur.

After all, Sandy, isn’t that what grandparents are for?

I don’t know your husband’s family, and I know they don’t know me,

But a mom, a dad, two sets of grandparents, how lucky can one baby be?

Some day when this child gets older, and the two of us get real chummy,

I’ll tell of the day she kicked my hand, from inside her mother’s tummy.

The miracle of creation is enough to leave one awed,

Always be faithful, raise your children in the love of God.

May this little one have a brother or sister, and yes, I know they’ll squabble.

But I hope the first words this one says, aren’t “gobble, gobble.”

With God’s richest blessing, I remain your friend, Rustie aka Russell

Written September 27, 1997

for Jordan,

born Thanksgiving day

27 November 1997

7 lbs. 6 oz.

ADDITIONAL READING:

WHAT? NO PUMPKIN PIE FOR THANKSGIVING?

A THANKSGIVING POEM

THE THANKSGIVING TURKEY

TURDUCKIN

To read a post about the birthmother in LEFTOVER TURKEY:

PENNSYLVANIA WEDDING, (LAMOINE) MAINE ROOTS