The Most Loving Thing?

"I don't think the most loving thing we can do is speak the 'truth.' I think the most loving thing we can do is to love…If you think speaking truth is the most loving thing. Here are some truths. It is estimated that in the US alone, Church organizations own in excess of 200 Billion Dollars in real estate. Roughly 1/3 of the worlds population claims to be Christian, and yet, 21,000 children die everyday from hunger and preventable diseases. It is estimated that there are 27 million people worldwide that are slaves, most are women and children, and many of the children are forced to perform in the commercial sex trade. The truth is [name] that God has provided and equipped his church to eliminate the suffering in the world, but it would require us to come out of our comfort zones, maybe sacrifice a bit, and maybe even get a little dirty, and the church is obviously not willing to do that. It is much easier, much more comfortable to sit back and focus on issues that require OTHERS to change their behavior. I choose to Love; I choose to Do Justly, Love Mercy and Walk Humbly with God, and then let Him figure out the rest."

- A man in Charlotte who saw the film today writing the most awesome response to someone who argued that the most "loving" thing to do is tell LGBT people of their "clear sin."

Sometimes

Sunday Poetry: Sometimes, by Anonymous

Sometimes

Sometimes things don’t go, after all,
from bad to worse. Some years, muscadel
faces down frost; green thrives; the crops don’t fail.
Sometimes a man aims high, and all goes well.

A people sometimes will step back from war,
elect an honest man, decide they care
enough, that they can’t leave some stranger poor.
Some men become what they were born for.

Sometimes our best intentions do not go
amiss; sometimes we do as we meant to.
The sun will sometimes melt a field of sorrow
that seemed hard frozen; may it happen for you.

– by Anonymous
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Respect

“If you spend your life sparing people’s feelings and feeding their vanity, you get so you can’t distinguish what should be respected in them.” - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Who are the Christians?

"Ask the poor. They will tell you who the Christians are."--Ghandi

Unhappy for the Rest of Your Life?

“If you deliberately plan on being less than you are capable of being, then I warn you that you’ll be unhappy for the rest of your life.” - Abraham Maslow

Didn't Lose My Faith

Overheard: I didn't lose my faith, so much as I lost my illusions.

Logic

John Fugelhand:
"I want to rip off your logic and make passionate sense to you."

Religion is not the Gospel

Religion needs to defend itself, the Gospel needs no defense. Religion is about certainty, the Gospel is about assurance. Religion needs every “I” dotted and every “T” crossed while the Gospel dwells in ambiguity and mystery. Religion seeks perfection, the Gospel offers wholeness. Religion validates sacred violence and a wrathful god, the Gospel speaks of the nonviolent, non-retributive God. Religion takes the State as its consort; the Gospel refuses the State and takes a peace loving people as a Bride.

Michael Hardin

CS Lewis on Buddhism

“But the truth is God has not told us what His arrangements about the other people are. … There are people who do not accept the full Christian doctrine about Christ but who are so strongly attracted by Him that they are His in a much deeper sense than they themselves understand. There are people in other religions who are being led by God’s secret influence to concentrate on those parts of their religion which are in agreement with Christianity, and who thus belong to Christ without knowing it. For example a Buddhist of good will may be led to concentrate more and more on the Buddhist teaching about mercy and to leave in the background (though he might still say he believed) the Buddhist teaching on certain points. Many of the good Pagans long before Christ’s birth may have been in this position”
–C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, HarperSanFrancisco edition, 2001, pp. 64, 208, 209

Coffee Stains

By Anne Lamott

A gorgeous friend of mine has been joyously married for 50 years, to a man who was very sick the last two. They have many kids. (Sometimes my friend can't remember their exact order of birth, but she says, nonchalantly, "Oh, but I know all their names by heart."). Her husband died Wednesday, and I stopped by their house Thursday. All of their grown kids were there, and her husband's brothers, and some riff-raff (ie, me.) The house was filled with flowers, food, a few of us. My friend was in bed, receiving visitors, telling and hearing stories about her husband, laughing, tearing up, nibbling at honeydew melon. While bending in low to give her my biggest dancing bear hug, I caused someone else to spill their coffee all over her beautiful sheets. I was so mad at myself, but she cried out happily, "I hope it stains, so I can remember the beauty of this morning forever."

And that is what we mean by grace, hope, charity.

Great and Timeless Story!

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same
hospital room.

One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an
hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from
his lungs.

His bed was next to the room's only window.

The other man had to spend all his time flat on
his back.

The men talked for hours on end.

They spoke of their wives and families, their
homes, their jobs, their involvement in the
military service, where they had been on
vacation..

Every afternoon, when the man in the bed by the
window could sit up, he would pass the time by
describing to his roommate all the things he could
see outside the window.

The man in the other bed began to live for those
one hour periods where his world would be
broadened and enlivened by all the activity and
colour of the world outside.

The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake.Ducks and swans played on the water while
children sailed their model boats. Young lovers
walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every colour
and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen
in the distance.

As the man by the window described all this in
exquisite details, the man on the other side of
the room would close his eyes and imagine this
picturesque scene.

One warm afternoon, the man by the window
described a parade passing by.

Although the other man could not hear the band -
he could see it in his mind's eye as the
gentleman by the window portrayed it with
descriptive words.

Days, weeks and months passed.
One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring
water for their baths only to find the lifeless body
of the man by the window, who had died
peacefully in his sleep.

She was saddened and called the hospital
attendants to take the body away.

As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man
asked if he could be moved next to the window.
The nurse was happy to make the switch, and
after making sure he was comfortable, she left
him alone.

Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one
elbow to take his first look at the real world
outside.

He strained to slowly turn to look out the window
besides the bed.

It faced a blank wall.

The man asked the nurse what could have
compelled his deceased roommate who had
described such wonderful things outside this
window.

The nurse responded that the man was blind and
could not even see the wall.

She said, 'Perhaps he just wanted to encourage
you.'

Epilogue:
There is tremendous happiness in making others
happy, despite our own situations.
Shared grief is half the sorrow, but happiness
when shared, is doubled.
If you want to feel rich, just count all the things
you have that money can't buy.

Good Kids

Good kids are like sunsets. We take them for granted. Every evening they disappear. Most parents never realize how hard they try to please us, and how miserable they feel when they think they have failed. (Erma Bombeck)

Weighing the Cows...

Weighing the cows won't make them fatter, feeding them will. Testing our kids won't make them smarter, teaching them will.