Christianity is not alone in proposing answers to the mystery of our existence. Many philosophers and religious teachers have addressed questions about the source, meaning, and destiny of human existence.
What is unique about the teachings of Christianity is our claim that in the death and resurrection of one man--the Son of God--the veil has been lifted from our future destiny. For those who put away the weight of deadness (sin), and put on the life-giving Spirit of Christ, death is no longer a fearful enemy. By faith, we can joyfully embrace the short span of our present existence as kind of a small harbor open to the mysterious depths beyond.
For many in today's world, the Christian answers--perhaps worn smooth by too much casual handling--have lost their power to surprise and enlighten. For a culture and generations accustomed to media, internet, video games, and the flashing pace of music videos, the notion of eternal life--or eternal anything, for that matter--may sound unrealistic or even boring.
But there are people in our world today who have perhaps explored various philosophies and religious paths, and are now prepared to listen anew to the wisdom of Christianity. The benefits of Christian faith are made clearly visible to these seekers when they encounter powerfully alive, deeply passionate, genuinely loving saints of Christ who live and work together in peace, joy and love!
The Christian tradition teaches that the source of our existence is God, and God is our ultimate destination. Our task in life--whether it is short or long, heavy with sorrows or light with blessings, or, like most lives, a combination of the two--is to find the path that conveys us toward our true destination.
Material success, fame, or other great personal achievements will not cross with us to the other side. Sometimes we cling to resentments, bitterness, anger, and regrets as though they have some great value or serve us in the quest for our Godly destiny. To carry these weights of deadness with us is hell indeed. The Christian faith calls us to let go and be stripped of all that weakens our capacity to love with a single, pure, authentic heart. It is liberating to let go now and enter into life! If we don't, death will finish the job that we have left incomplete.
Christ followers learn from him that every day should be well lived. Some questions to help us know we are on the path toward our Godly destiny include:
- Did I offer peace today?
- Did I bring a smile to someone's face today?
- Did I share words of healing?
- Did I let go of anger and resentment?
- Did I forgive?
- Did I love?
Christ teaches us that what we sow in love now will bear many fruits, here in this world, and in the life to come.
St. John Vianney wrote: "The eyes of the world see no farther than this life....The eyes of the Christian see deep into eternity."
Let's rejoice in traveling God's life-giving path together!
Duff
Friday, May 29, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Weekly Inspiration
Jesus began to preach, and the message was one he repeated from the sermons of John the Baptist. He said, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
John was in prison, and Jesus made certain that his voice and message did not go unheard.
He began to preach: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Have we begun to hear? Hearing is an art, listening requires that our spirit is attentive. Who do you know that listens well? Few of us do. What happens when we do listen--when our spirit becomes attentive?
We hear the Holy Spirit's beautiful, inspiring, life-giving music!
"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
In His renewing, refreshing love,
Duff
John was in prison, and Jesus made certain that his voice and message did not go unheard.
He began to preach: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Have we begun to hear? Hearing is an art, listening requires that our spirit is attentive. Who do you know that listens well? Few of us do. What happens when we do listen--when our spirit becomes attentive?
We hear the Holy Spirit's beautiful, inspiring, life-giving music!
"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
In His renewing, refreshing love,
Duff
Thursday, April 30, 2009
The Adventure of Becoming
Philosopher Bernard Lonergan once noted: "All religious experience at its roots is an experience of an unconditional and unrestricted being in love" (Quoted in Robert Wicks' "Touching the Holy"). Every authentic religious experience is an encounter with infinite Love. Brennan Manning notes that the recovery of passion begins with the recovery of our true self as the beloved (Abba's Child, 125). In discovering the infinite Love of Christ for us, we will also find our true self. If John, the disciple whom Jesus loved (John 21:20) were to be asked, "What is your primary identity, your most coherent sense of yourself?" he would not reply, "I am a disciple, an apostle, an evangelist," but "I am the one Jesus loves."
When I read the gospels, it seems clear that the disciples were truly crazy about Jesus. Theologian Raymond Brown utilizes more restrained prose: "Jesus was remembered as one who exhibited love in what he did and was loved deeply by those who followed him." As followers of Christ today, the love of Christ impels us. Our love for him grows out of the knowledge of his love for us. Living in this love relationship with Christ nurtures in us a growing passionate awareness. We are learning to release regrets, stunted emotions, passivity, and the random or haphazard dissipation of precious life energy that we've been pouring into fruitless relationships and projects. We can release the unproductive, life-draining ways as we begin to trust God more fully. When we live in a fearful mistrust of God, the world, and our self, we have little ability to make a passionate commitment to anyone or anything.
It's nearly impossible to grow and mature when we allow endless rational analysis to keep us from decisive commitment. According to Victor Frankl, a person finds identity only to the extent that "he commits himself to something beyond himself, to a cause greater than himself" (Frankl: Psychotherapy and Existentialism, 9). It seems paradoxical, but we gain a healthy self-awareness, not through self-analysis, but by courageously taking the leap of faith that leads to commitment. The meaning of our lives emerges in the surrender of ourselves to an ADVENTURE OF BECOMING who we are not yet.
In the glorious adventure of becoming we learn that the promised peace that the world cannot give is located in right relationship with God. Self-acceptance (the refusal to be at war with myself) and inner peace become possible only through radical trust in Jesus' acceptance of me as I am. The answer to the question, "Who am I becoming?" is discovered through personal commitment of our heart and life to the loving Christ. He says we can trust in the Father and also in Him (John 14:1), and He reminds us: "Behold, I make ALL things new" (Revelation 21:5).
Will you join me in surrendering to the love-based adventure of becoming who we are not yet--who God's love will grow us to be?
Duff Gorle
When I read the gospels, it seems clear that the disciples were truly crazy about Jesus. Theologian Raymond Brown utilizes more restrained prose: "Jesus was remembered as one who exhibited love in what he did and was loved deeply by those who followed him." As followers of Christ today, the love of Christ impels us. Our love for him grows out of the knowledge of his love for us. Living in this love relationship with Christ nurtures in us a growing passionate awareness. We are learning to release regrets, stunted emotions, passivity, and the random or haphazard dissipation of precious life energy that we've been pouring into fruitless relationships and projects. We can release the unproductive, life-draining ways as we begin to trust God more fully. When we live in a fearful mistrust of God, the world, and our self, we have little ability to make a passionate commitment to anyone or anything.
It's nearly impossible to grow and mature when we allow endless rational analysis to keep us from decisive commitment. According to Victor Frankl, a person finds identity only to the extent that "he commits himself to something beyond himself, to a cause greater than himself" (Frankl: Psychotherapy and Existentialism, 9). It seems paradoxical, but we gain a healthy self-awareness, not through self-analysis, but by courageously taking the leap of faith that leads to commitment. The meaning of our lives emerges in the surrender of ourselves to an ADVENTURE OF BECOMING who we are not yet.
In the glorious adventure of becoming we learn that the promised peace that the world cannot give is located in right relationship with God. Self-acceptance (the refusal to be at war with myself) and inner peace become possible only through radical trust in Jesus' acceptance of me as I am. The answer to the question, "Who am I becoming?" is discovered through personal commitment of our heart and life to the loving Christ. He says we can trust in the Father and also in Him (John 14:1), and He reminds us: "Behold, I make ALL things new" (Revelation 21:5).
Will you join me in surrendering to the love-based adventure of becoming who we are not yet--who God's love will grow us to be?
Duff Gorle
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Spiritual Satisfaction Leads To Spiritual Service
In Luke 10:38 we read that "Jesus went into a certain city, and a certain woman named Martha received him. She had as sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he was saying."
Meister Eckhart notes three things that caused Mary to sit at Jesus' feet:
1. God’s goodness had embraced her soul.
2. Mary had a great longing, a yearning, a desire to know God intimately.
3. The words that came from Christ's mouth provided her with sweet comfort (consolation) and happiness (bliss).
The "masters" of the spiritual life have generally agreed that God is ready for every person's spiritual and physical satisfaction to the utmost degree that the person desires.
Richard Foster points out that the Mary and Martha impulses within us are to function in symbiosis. We first need the "one necessary thing" that Jesus spoke of. We first enter a loving, ongoing, ever-growing relationship with God. We learn to be a "branch," gaining our life sustenance from Christ, the Vine.
Once this reality has worked its way deep within us then, out of the abundance of this life, we serve others, freely and joyfully. Even the clarity about which services to undertake and the means for accomplishing them flow out of the "one necessary thing."
Jesus' encounter with Mary and Martha reminds us that sequence is important in our developing spirituality. Spiritual satisfaction gained through the "one necessary thing" precedes authentically joyful, helpful, Spirit-led service to others. Mary and Martha illustrate these two aspects of the Christian life--spirituality and service. These two inseparable twins are interlinked and powerfully influence one another.
Living out of Circle One (the "one necessary thing") will provide the spiritual satisfaction that empowers us for loving service.
Isn't it great to be crazy in love with Jesus?!
Duff
Meister Eckhart notes three things that caused Mary to sit at Jesus' feet:
1. God’s goodness had embraced her soul.
2. Mary had a great longing, a yearning, a desire to know God intimately.
3. The words that came from Christ's mouth provided her with sweet comfort (consolation) and happiness (bliss).
The "masters" of the spiritual life have generally agreed that God is ready for every person's spiritual and physical satisfaction to the utmost degree that the person desires.
Richard Foster points out that the Mary and Martha impulses within us are to function in symbiosis. We first need the "one necessary thing" that Jesus spoke of. We first enter a loving, ongoing, ever-growing relationship with God. We learn to be a "branch," gaining our life sustenance from Christ, the Vine.
Once this reality has worked its way deep within us then, out of the abundance of this life, we serve others, freely and joyfully. Even the clarity about which services to undertake and the means for accomplishing them flow out of the "one necessary thing."
Jesus' encounter with Mary and Martha reminds us that sequence is important in our developing spirituality. Spiritual satisfaction gained through the "one necessary thing" precedes authentically joyful, helpful, Spirit-led service to others. Mary and Martha illustrate these two aspects of the Christian life--spirituality and service. These two inseparable twins are interlinked and powerfully influence one another.
Living out of Circle One (the "one necessary thing") will provide the spiritual satisfaction that empowers us for loving service.
Isn't it great to be crazy in love with Jesus?!
Duff
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Easter Celebration
Dear Friends,
There are so many reasons why I love Easter! It reminds me that if I believe God is the giver of life, then I can trust him when this life he has given comes to a close. We've heard the counsel, "Let other people finish their own sentences." Easter shows us how God finishes his sentence relating to the gift of life! I also find meaning in facing the harsh reality of death. As Randy Pausch has written, "Brick walls are there for a reason. They give us a chance to show how badly we want something." The non-negotiable reality of our impending death--that life as we know it will end--provides you and me with the opportunity to decide how badly we desire to live this life full-out! We can enjoy investing each precious moment as our gift of loving, healing, inspiring presence in the lives of people we are connected to in this God-given journey we call LIFE!
Let's celebrate God's gift of life this Easter! And let's trust God to finish the sentence when our life comes to a close!
I invite you and any others to participate in Easter Weekend at Phoenix Light & Life. Here's what we have to offer for your blessing and inspiration:
1. 24-hour Prayer Vigil--The prayer chapel will be open from 7 pm Friday until 7 pm Saturday with beautifully prepared "stations of prayer" to help guide our hearts and thoughts into alignment with God's heart and thoughts. We invite you to come and "be" in God's loving presence. We're praying to more fully know God's presence, and God's guidance, personally and in the faith community.
2. International Prayer & Praise 2009--4 pm Saturday in the Worship Center. See the poster to the left--it gives information about this powerful movement of God's unifying and healing love! The music is going to be awesome! Don't miss this event.
3. Easter Breakfast--Beginning at 8:45 am Easter Sunday. Come and enjoy a delicious, complimentary (donations accepted) breakfast as we celebrate God's gift of life in Christ.
4. Easter Celebration--10:30 am, join us for a special Easter service in the Worship Center.
Looking forward to seeing you on Easter Weekend! Bring a friend or two and let's receive and share God's loving kindness in community together.
With blessings and love,
Duff Gorle
There are so many reasons why I love Easter! It reminds me that if I believe God is the giver of life, then I can trust him when this life he has given comes to a close. We've heard the counsel, "Let other people finish their own sentences." Easter shows us how God finishes his sentence relating to the gift of life! I also find meaning in facing the harsh reality of death. As Randy Pausch has written, "Brick walls are there for a reason. They give us a chance to show how badly we want something." The non-negotiable reality of our impending death--that life as we know it will end--provides you and me with the opportunity to decide how badly we desire to live this life full-out! We can enjoy investing each precious moment as our gift of loving, healing, inspiring presence in the lives of people we are connected to in this God-given journey we call LIFE!
Let's celebrate God's gift of life this Easter! And let's trust God to finish the sentence when our life comes to a close!
I invite you and any others to participate in Easter Weekend at Phoenix Light & Life. Here's what we have to offer for your blessing and inspiration:
1. 24-hour Prayer Vigil--The prayer chapel will be open from 7 pm Friday until 7 pm Saturday with beautifully prepared "stations of prayer" to help guide our hearts and thoughts into alignment with God's heart and thoughts. We invite you to come and "be" in God's loving presence. We're praying to more fully know God's presence, and God's guidance, personally and in the faith community.
2. International Prayer & Praise 2009--4 pm Saturday in the Worship Center. See the poster to the left--it gives information about this powerful movement of God's unifying and healing love! The music is going to be awesome! Don't miss this event.
4. Easter Celebration--10:30 am, join us for a special Easter service in the Worship Center.
Looking forward to seeing you on Easter Weekend! Bring a friend or two and let's receive and share God's loving kindness in community together.
With blessings and love,
Duff Gorle
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Weekly Inspiration
Dear Friends,
This Easter we will again dedicate ourselves to an intentional focus on living the life of prayer. We invite all to participate in the 24-hour prayer vigil, April 10 through 11, at Phoenix Light & Life Church. Our prayer team is serving us by carefully preparing the prayer chapel with "stations of prayer" that are designed to give us opportunities to open our hearts and minds to God's presence and guidance. We will celebrate an International Prayer & Praise gathering Saturday, April 11 from 4pm to 6pm featuring Prayer, The Word, Worship, Music, and Friendship with loving Christ-followers from around the globe! You are invited to participate in this life-changing, inspiring experience.
The Psalmist prayed, "Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long" (Psalm 25:4-5). Our life flourishes when we're touched by the Holy Spirit during our times of opening to God in prayer. The presence and power of God are released into our reality in the experience of prayer. God shows us, teaches us, and guides us.
Last Wednesday night in our weekly adult Bible Study, a precious member of our church prayed for her pastor that God would bring people alongside him to "hold up his hands" as was done for Moses when he prayed on the hilltop for Joshua to defeat the Amalekites. This prayer strengthened my heart and encouraged me to follow Christ more fully into the life of God. Let's pray for each other!
When the early church was developing in the first century, 120 disciples prayed during the days between Jesus' ascension and the day of Pentecost (Acts 1:4). On the day when the Holy Spirit come with special power, a simple fisherman named Peter gave his testimony, and 3,000 people were converted!
In 1949 Billy Graham and his team held an evangelistic campaign in Los Angeles that reached thousands of people for Christ and lead to a new era of mass evangelism. Graham had conducted similar campaigns but with much smaller results. He later realized that the main difference between the L.A. crusade and all the others before it had been the intention and amount of prayer he and his people had invested in it.
John Wesley recognized the power of prayer when he said: "Give me 100 preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergy or laymen, such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven on earth. God does nothing but in answer to prayer." Through prayer God makes the impossible possible. Through prayer, God focuses and greatly multiplies our efforts. C. H. Spurgeon said, "Whenever God determines to do a great work, He first sets His people to pray." Spurgeon had recognized that neither his sermons nor his good works accounted for the spiritual impact of his ministry.
Prayer changes us by drawing us closer to God's heart.
I feel convicted that God desires us to increase our intake of spiritual nourishment that comes through the experience of prayer. Will you join me in this exhilarating adventure of opening our lives and our church to God in prayer? God will bring us and our church revival and the joyful energy to reach the potential he has for us!
Joyfully in the mission of God!
Duff Gorle
This Easter we will again dedicate ourselves to an intentional focus on living the life of prayer. We invite all to participate in the 24-hour prayer vigil, April 10 through 11, at Phoenix Light & Life Church. Our prayer team is serving us by carefully preparing the prayer chapel with "stations of prayer" that are designed to give us opportunities to open our hearts and minds to God's presence and guidance. We will celebrate an International Prayer & Praise gathering Saturday, April 11 from 4pm to 6pm featuring Prayer, The Word, Worship, Music, and Friendship with loving Christ-followers from around the globe! You are invited to participate in this life-changing, inspiring experience.
The Psalmist prayed, "Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long" (Psalm 25:4-5). Our life flourishes when we're touched by the Holy Spirit during our times of opening to God in prayer. The presence and power of God are released into our reality in the experience of prayer. God shows us, teaches us, and guides us.
Last Wednesday night in our weekly adult Bible Study, a precious member of our church prayed for her pastor that God would bring people alongside him to "hold up his hands" as was done for Moses when he prayed on the hilltop for Joshua to defeat the Amalekites. This prayer strengthened my heart and encouraged me to follow Christ more fully into the life of God. Let's pray for each other!
When the early church was developing in the first century, 120 disciples prayed during the days between Jesus' ascension and the day of Pentecost (Acts 1:4). On the day when the Holy Spirit come with special power, a simple fisherman named Peter gave his testimony, and 3,000 people were converted!
In 1949 Billy Graham and his team held an evangelistic campaign in Los Angeles that reached thousands of people for Christ and lead to a new era of mass evangelism. Graham had conducted similar campaigns but with much smaller results. He later realized that the main difference between the L.A. crusade and all the others before it had been the intention and amount of prayer he and his people had invested in it.
John Wesley recognized the power of prayer when he said: "Give me 100 preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergy or laymen, such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven on earth. God does nothing but in answer to prayer." Through prayer God makes the impossible possible. Through prayer, God focuses and greatly multiplies our efforts. C. H. Spurgeon said, "Whenever God determines to do a great work, He first sets His people to pray." Spurgeon had recognized that neither his sermons nor his good works accounted for the spiritual impact of his ministry.
Prayer changes us by drawing us closer to God's heart.
I feel convicted that God desires us to increase our intake of spiritual nourishment that comes through the experience of prayer. Will you join me in this exhilarating adventure of opening our lives and our church to God in prayer? God will bring us and our church revival and the joyful energy to reach the potential he has for us!
Joyfully in the mission of God!
Duff Gorle
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Finding Joy In the Mission
In pastoral ministry I've occasionally had the experience of a person coming to me with the message that they are feeling burned-out from doing too much. They generally describe how much pressure they are under through "over involvement" in church, on the job, and in the community. These precious ones usually state that they "just need to cut back."
I generally feel I am being cued to say to them, "I'm so sorry. Please feel free to drop your commitments at the church. We'll find someone else." And this is often the approach I've taken.
It's beginning to dawn on me that there might be a different approach that could sometimes be preferable. This would be a response that tells the person it might be a great mistake to keep quitting things. Such a response would not be because we desperately need the person to continue in their ministry role; quite frankly, that is not usually the case. Rather, it would be a recognition that quitting might simply add to the person's burden of guilt. They feel like an exhausted runner. They are fretting over dropping the messianic baton they have never actually been asked to carry.
Why is it that so many of us who claim to be disciples of Jesus are always tired, while others, who are still getting so much good work done, seem energized and are experiencing tremendous joy? Some Christian workers live in a cycle of perceived failure. They fail again and again in a game they should not be playing in the first place. This is the "playing Jesus" game.
Most of the mistakes we make in our commitments to compassionate service and mission-related work are rooted in a far more serious mistake we make about Jesus, namely, thinking of him in the past tense. The Gospels clearly tell us Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to the right hand of his Father, where he continues to intercede on our behalf. Jesus is no longer dead! He is still the Savior--and we are not.
Could it be that the followers of Jesus who find joy in the mission recognize that they aren't the ones getting it done? We are simply beholding and wondering at the salvation of Jesus, whom we see at work in every part of their lives.
We are never anything more than his witnesses. Any courtroom judge will clarify it is not the role of a witness to make things happen. Christ is alive and at work in this world! It is his mission and work to bring in a whole new kingdom. We are invited to actively participate, not through trying harder or learning more right answers or passing better legislation, only through prayer. Prayer places us where we can see and recognize Christ's activity in the world. We begin to see all the quiet miracles Jesus is creating. When the church prays, it puts the world back into the hands of our risen Savior.
St. John introduces us to Jesus by stating: "All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being" (John 1:3). St. Paul describes Jesus in similar terms: "In him all things in heaven and on earth were created....In him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:16-17). Jesus started all the work, and it is still being done by him. "The one who began a good work among you," Paul reminds us, "will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6).
The challenge in the Christian life is not to do less, but to see the risen Jesus at work in every aspect of our living and serving!
Prayerfully finding joy in the mission!
Duff Gorle
I generally feel I am being cued to say to them, "I'm so sorry. Please feel free to drop your commitments at the church. We'll find someone else." And this is often the approach I've taken.
It's beginning to dawn on me that there might be a different approach that could sometimes be preferable. This would be a response that tells the person it might be a great mistake to keep quitting things. Such a response would not be because we desperately need the person to continue in their ministry role; quite frankly, that is not usually the case. Rather, it would be a recognition that quitting might simply add to the person's burden of guilt. They feel like an exhausted runner. They are fretting over dropping the messianic baton they have never actually been asked to carry.
Why is it that so many of us who claim to be disciples of Jesus are always tired, while others, who are still getting so much good work done, seem energized and are experiencing tremendous joy? Some Christian workers live in a cycle of perceived failure. They fail again and again in a game they should not be playing in the first place. This is the "playing Jesus" game.
Most of the mistakes we make in our commitments to compassionate service and mission-related work are rooted in a far more serious mistake we make about Jesus, namely, thinking of him in the past tense. The Gospels clearly tell us Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to the right hand of his Father, where he continues to intercede on our behalf. Jesus is no longer dead! He is still the Savior--and we are not.
Could it be that the followers of Jesus who find joy in the mission recognize that they aren't the ones getting it done? We are simply beholding and wondering at the salvation of Jesus, whom we see at work in every part of their lives.
We are never anything more than his witnesses. Any courtroom judge will clarify it is not the role of a witness to make things happen. Christ is alive and at work in this world! It is his mission and work to bring in a whole new kingdom. We are invited to actively participate, not through trying harder or learning more right answers or passing better legislation, only through prayer. Prayer places us where we can see and recognize Christ's activity in the world. We begin to see all the quiet miracles Jesus is creating. When the church prays, it puts the world back into the hands of our risen Savior.
St. John introduces us to Jesus by stating: "All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being" (John 1:3). St. Paul describes Jesus in similar terms: "In him all things in heaven and on earth were created....In him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:16-17). Jesus started all the work, and it is still being done by him. "The one who began a good work among you," Paul reminds us, "will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6).
The challenge in the Christian life is not to do less, but to see the risen Jesus at work in every aspect of our living and serving!
Prayerfully finding joy in the mission!
Duff Gorle
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