"Before, Now, and After"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Entering Through A Narrow Door

Dear Friends,

Jesus always invites us to the place where he is, but, as he warned his first disciples, the door leading into this holy place is narrow (see Luke 13:24). Jesus explained that "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God" (Luke 18:25).

The problem with being rich is that we have too many things in our hands and so much weight on our backs that we become bent over from the burden of it all. Because the door into the holy place is so narrow, we must let go of everything--absolutely everything--in order to slip through.

You may not feel you are rich, but think about it for a moment.
--RELATIONSHIPS. Some of us are rich in relationships, but there is no group ticket into the holy place. We must release our identities as daughters, sons, friends, lovers in order to enter the lonely place of solitude where the Holy Spirit makes us the beloved of Jesus' Father.
--WISDOM. Many of us are rich in wisdom; some in theological knowledge. To enter the holy place, according to St. Paul, we must drop all of our "wisdom" and become "fools" (1 Corinthians 1:27). This is a clear warning to which we must resist trying to add a little sophistication.
--POWER. Some of us are powerful. We must become weak--the strong must become frail.
--SUCCESS. The successful must drop every achievement until we are no greater than those the world regards as failures.
--ANGER & HURT. Some of us are rich in the abundance of anger and hurt that we nurture and continually carry with us. Those who are limping through life will have to let go of anger, hurt, fear, skepticism and sin.
--RIGHTEOUSNESS. Even our righteousness--especially our righteousness--must fall from our hands. None of it will fit through the narrow door.

At last, stripped of everything, we can encounter Jesus and his invitation to come to the holy place where living water is waiting for us. Nothing is holy apart from Jesus.

Why does it cost so much to enter his holy place? Because we cannot see that the place is holy until we see Jesus there. If there is anything in our hands or on our back, it will distract us from seeing our Savior. Once we see the Savior, we will then see that all the things we have dropped are now in his hands, which, of course, is the best place for them to be.

"Nothing in my hands I bring; simply to Your cross I cling."

On the adventure together!

Duff Gorle

Weekly Inspiration

Dear Friends on this great Adventure!

The theological basis for your and my spirituality is when we cry "Abba! Father!" St. Paul claims that when we do this, "it is the Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ" (Romans 8:15-17).

In Christian spirituality, the starting place is not our own thirst for God, but God's loving decision to enfold us into his family. While our decision to receive the grace of God that establishes our relationship with him is essential, the gospel does not begin with any of our decisions.

Most of us can remember saying to someone, "I love you." It seemed like time stopped as we waited for a response. Only one response would be the right one. In saying these words, we put ourselves in a vulnerable position. We hoped to hear in reply, "I love you too." Through the work of Christ and the Spirit, the Father has taken the initiative to tell us that he loves us. The theological term for this initiative is "prevenient grace." God's grace precedes and anticipates our faith in his love for us. We cannot even claim to love God apart from first discovering how much he loves us.

When we see the love of God demonstrated in the cross of Jesus Christ, our response is a deep, life-changing gratitude. We gain a new identity as beloved sons and daughters with whom God is also well pleased.

St. Paul told the believers at Rome, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God--what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Romans 12:2). The Greek word "syschematizo" translated as "conformed" is in the middle voice, which signifies something we do to ourselves. Through our own efforts we are able only to conform to the imperfect loves of the world. The Greek word "metamorphoo" translated as "transformed" is in the passive voice, which signifies something that happens to us. As our minds are renewed by remembering God's love for us, the Spirit changes our lives. By God's grace, we start to look like God's will--good and acceptable and perfect. In other words, we begin to look more like Jesus Christ.

By the grace of God we are now his children, so, when we revert back to our old addictions to sin, the Spirit reminds us, "No, no, that's not how you act in this family." Once we discover that by grace we have been brought home, we find it irresistible to make the changes that align us with the values and culture of our new family. We will never make these changes by trying hard to get life right on our own. Only God's love is powerful enough to change our lives.

In the home of our Heavenly Father we learn how to give our lives to something greater than a self-absorbed, shallow, empty, dry and thirsty existence. When we come to see what God has done for us in sacrificing his Son because he loves us, and what he has done and continues to do through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, then everything about our lives begins to change. Changing our lives is as easy as falling in love!

Your Friend,

Duff Gorle

Relating to God as Father and Friend

When we refer to God as FATHER, many of us think first of his high expectations for us. Perhaps the image of God we've had since childhood is one that stresses how much he has done for us and how little we have done for him. We've been trained that falling short of expectations makes Daddy very disappointed.

When our primary vision of our relationship with God is about constantly striving to appease a father who can never be satisfied, no matter how good we may be, our efforts at righteous living can become little more than codependent striving. A recent session where Denise and I were counseling an outwardly highly successful person reminded me that even in adulthood, too many of us continue to be more afraid of God than in love with him.

The Bible does tell us to fear God, but not because of his high expectations. Interestingly, it tells us to fear his love. King David explained: "The friendship of the LORD if for those who fear him" (Psalm 25:14). This is no ordinary friend we have! He will not tell us only those things we want to hear. This friend will take us places we never saw ourselves going; he will give us passion for things that we weren't formerly passionate about. This friend will certainly be hard to control.

A few short hours before Jesus was arrested and crucified, he told his disciples, "I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father" (John 15:15). I wonder what went through their minds. Were they surprised? Honored? Confused? They were certainly not his peers, and neither are we, so it does mystify us that Jesus would identify us as his friends.

Servants simply do their jobs. Maybe it would be easier, clearer and much less demanding to remain servants! Friendship is frequently confusing and mysterious; it requires a great deal of trust, and it is all too easy to get burned along the way. I think the greatest challenge in friendship is learning how to give and receive in relation to someone else. In friendship we learn to serve each other.

The Creator of heaven and earth demonstrated his great love for us in the passion of Christ on the cross. When we believe that this Friend was dying to love us, then we can begin to believe there is something worth loving in ourselves. Once we trust our lives to this Sacred Friendship, we can begin to set free our other friends and family members from trying to provide the wellspring of genuine love only a Savior can offer. Human hearts are simply not deep enough.

Having freed our loved ones from the burden of loving us as only a Savior can, we will begin to delight in them as God's beautiful blessings in our lives!

What a health-giving privilege to know the Friendship of the LORD!

With love and friendship,

Duff Gorle

A Spirituality of Joy

The ultimate purpose of Christian spirituality is to fall deeply in love with God. What good is an ever-increasing sophistication in the principles and practice of the faith unless there is an accompanying passion

The goal of a healthy spirituality should not be merely our own personal development. Such a focus would preoccupy us with our self and our perceived progress or lack thereof. But if our goal is to love God, we preoccupy ourselves with him and the things that are the passions of his heart

When the Samaritan woman met Jesus at the well and caught a glimpse of who he was and the passion of his heart to bring living water to desperately thirsty people, she ran back to town and excitedly communicated: "Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?" (John 4:29.

When we encounter Jesus we cannot help but echo her excitement as we run joyfully alongside her. We too have been found by One who knows us--who knows everything we have ever done--and yet, in mercy, kindness and love gives us the Holy Spirit who helps us become who we are; beloved sons and daughters of God

David reflected on God's strong hand of protection over him, and he responded by praying: "I will exult and rejoice in your steadfast love" (Psalm 31:7). To exult is to be overwhelmed with more joy than our bodies can contain. When we experience this exulting type of joy, we simply must leap to our feet and scream, "Alleluia!"--or something like that.

We talk about this love of God in worship all the time, but we don't always see a lot of exulting. Time and again we encounter the Word of God offering a sacred "I love you." How can anyone hear these amazing words and think, "I know God loves me. Why does the pastor keep saying that?"

In India, the fable is told of a tiger cub that lost his mother and was adopted by a family of goats (See Frederich Buechner's "The Magnificent Defeat"). The goats raised the tiger to speak their language, adopt their ways, and eat their food. Soon the tiger believed he was just a funny-looking goat. One day a king tiger appeared, and all the goats scattered in fear. The young tiger was left alone, feeling afraid, yet somehow unafraid. The king tiger asked him what was meant by this masquerade? All the young tiger could do was bleat nervously and eat grass. So the king carried him to a pool and forced the young tiger to look their reflected images. Side by side, the truth was made clear in what they saw mirrored in the water. Lashing his tail and digging his claws in the ground, the young beast raised his head high, and the jungle trembled at the sound of his exultant roar.

Jesus restores our dignity by forgiving us for all those ways we have settled for being the goat, so that we can spend the rest of life expressing gratitude and roaring with delight!

Thanks for our joyful journey together to God's heart!

Duff Gorle

Inspirational Thought

Dear Friend,

Our church's mission statement is: "Connecting People to God and Each Other Through Jesus Christ." The desire of our collective heart is to know God intimately through Christ, and to help others know God intimately through Christ, in the context of our loving community of faith.

It is difficult to get to know someone whom you cannot see, hear, smell, taste, touch, or intuit. Through these six senses we take-in information from the universe around us that helps us know reality. In the case of Jesus Christ, how do we get to know and feel personally connected to someone who lived two thousand years ago, and hasn't been seen since?

An agnostic found himself in trouble, and a friend suggested he pray. "How can I pray when I do not know whether or not there is a God?" he asked. "If you are lost in the forest," his friend replied, "you do not wait until you find someone before shouting for help."

Earnest seekers have asked for centuries: "How can we meet, personally connect with, and truly know Jesus?" I'd like to bring forth a few thoughts based in Scripture that suggest how we can come to know God.

1. God initiates our meeting Him. We can notice evidence of God's presence in nature and within our own heart and conscience. John 3:16 states that God sent his Son so that we would know God's love and salvation. John 6:44 notes that God the Father draws us to Himself. 1 John 4:10 tells how God lovingly takes the initiative to establish a relationship with us.

2. Those who want to find God can. Scripture suggests God provides some points of light that are visible to those who choose to look and see. As we've mentioned, there is the light of nature (Romans 1:18-20), and the light of conscience (Romans 2:12-16). There is also the light of Scripture that points to the greatest light, Jesus Himself (1 John 1:7).

3. God is not limited to what is visible. The second of the Ten Commandments tries to help us find God by forbidding us to think of him in visual terms (Exodus 20:4). It forbids us to use images as representations of the divine being. Jesus said, "No one has ever seen the Father." He also said, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe" (John 20:29). Dallas Willard notes how God's spiritual invasions into human life "seem by their very gentleness almost to invite us to explain them away, even while soberly reminding us that to be obsessed and ruled by the visible is death but that to give one's self over to the spiritual is life and peace (Rom. 8:6)."

God is not insensitive to our problem of overcoming the power of the visible world. He invades the visible.

Spiritual people, and particularly people touched by God's Holy Spirit, are those who draw their life from an intimate relationship with God. We do not live our lives merely in terms of the human order in the visible world; we have "a life beyond."

4. The "still, small voice"--the interior or inner voice--seems to be held up by Scripture as the most valuable form of individualized communication for God's purposes. In contrast to the noise and frenzy of the so-called "real world of the visible" the spiritual world whispers to us ever so gently. Generally speaking, God will not compete for our attention.

When we seek God earnestly and are prepared to examine every possible thing that might be his overture to us--including the most obvious things like Bible verses or our own thoughts--then he promises to be found (Jer. 29:13). We will find God only if we honestly believe that God will address us in ways suitable to his purpose in our life.

May we be attentive as God continually, gently, mysteriously guides us into a deeper knowledge of himself.

In His Love,

Pastor Duff Gorle

Time For Change

TIME FOR CHANGE

On this historic day, with the inauguration of our new president, we're all aware of the theme he carried throughout the campaign: "Change." I'd like to suggest a specific change you and I can pursue this year that will revolutionize our lives for the good.

Martin Luther King, Jr had a dream that his four children would grow up in a world where they would not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. What if we focused on developing a deeper personal experience of that classic Christian virtue known as "Chastity." Chastity is a virtue that helps to build us in spirit, so we can look past a person's skin and into her or his character, insight and depth. Chastity leads us to know the God who is the source of the lovely things in this creation.

Simply put, chastity is the opposite of lust. Chastity recognizes that, though sexuality is part of everyone's being, we are all also spiritual beings. Because we are all created by God we must treat our self and others with respect and dignity. If lust leads to using people for our pleasure, then true chastity, as an attitude of heart, leads to protecting people for the sake of their wholeness and wellbeing.

Lust is deceptive because it looks and feels like intimacy. It can be tempting to accept this substitute intimacy, because meaningful intimacy requires hard work. True intimacy requires that we listen, respect, forgive, encourage, support, affirm, accept, and give unselfishly for the good of the other. Intimacy also requires that we learn humility, patience and perseverance.

Healthy relationships shape us into healthy people! The virtue of chastity makes rich and satisfying relationships possible.

St. Paul warned us that in our fallen state, we are tempted to worship the created rather than the Creator (Romans 1:25). While ancient societies worshipped the stars and the moon, in our culture there is commonly the worship of washboard abdomens, tight derrieres, and shapely legs. Becoming captivated by fleshly realities is a form of idolatry. When we lack inner spiritual strength, our natural appreciation of beauty can descend into destructive obsession with external physical realities.

Thomas Aquinas in his Summa pointed out that "those who find no joy in spiritual pleasures turn to the pleasures of the body." Aquinas also noted that an aversion to sex is a vice, not a virtue. So we should never confuse chastity with a prudish attitude that holds sex to be distasteful or dirty. The Biblical book, Song of Songs, celebrates the near intoxication of physical passion. Sexual enjoyment and celebration is not the same as the misdirected fire of lust. Lust is an emotionally violent act that degrades and reduces another persons' value. Lust is a shortcut that leads to the destruction of intimacy and the destruction of self.

We will begin to experience the freedom of chastity as we cultivate an awareness and thirst for the loving, holy presence of God. Let's get to the core of the matter--we need a passionate and heart-enriching relationship of intimacy with God.

Freedom is found when we cultivate a taste for the long-term meaning God gives our lives, as opposed to the short-term excitements gained through pursuit of bodily pleasures. Most of us are aware that sin has a tendency to over-promise and under-deliver. Gary Thomas suggests we try the following experiment: "Compare the twenty-four hours after making a holy choice with the twenty-four hours after the last time you gave in to lust." There's no comparison! The peace and dignity we feel after re-directing our desire is part of the empowering experience of God giving us our life back.

Chastity offers a deep, quiet, peaceful stability to replace the empty, restless personality that is always looking for the next high.

Learning to change our lives away from lust and toward chastity requires that we begin to consider others--not that we just become a little more thoughtful, but we ask God to grow in us a respectful reverence for the people he has made. We must ask God to change our heart, releasing us from the desire to control and use others.

As we change from being a person driven by lust, to a person who lives the discipline of chastity, we'll make the joyful discovery that living a life that reverences others has fewer regrets, deeper friendships, and ultimately much more satisfaction.

Don't we really want a deep, quiet love with God and many strong, healthy relationiships with others? Will you join me in a renewed quest for the interior strength of chastity? In this quest, God will change and grow us in the direction of becoming the person we truly want to be. We will be men and women who are building healthy, mature, and respectful relationships with God, our self, and the people God has placed in our life.

"God is such a stickler about morality, not because he wants to control our behavior, but because he wants us to become the kind of people who can see him and thus experience infinite joy" (Peter Kreeft).

May God change our hearts so that lust gives way to chastity. In this process, we will celebrate beauty without worshiping it. We will be transformed away from domination into respecful self-givers as we begin to live a beautiful, immensely meaningful life.

Here's to a year of beautiful CHANGE!

Thoughts at Thanksgiving Time

Dear Friends,

This week we will celebrate a most wonderful holiday that reminds us to value thankfulness. It has been pointed out by others that Thanksgiving is special in part because it has not been overrun by consumerism and commercialization--these sort of go against the spirit of the day!

My hope is that each of us will remember God's endless goodness and respond with gratitude.

In a little prayer book published by the General Conference of American Rabbis, I discovered the following: "Let man see how abundant is God's goodness, and his soul will be filled with the light of genial kindness. He will discover that the motive law of life is not selfish grasping, but generous blessing. The warming sun, the fruitful rain, the abundant earth and the magic seed, are God's messengers, carrying gifts to the children of man. The very will of man, his persistence of purpose, the energy to toil, all come unearned from the Beneficent One. Man indeed labors--that is his destiny, but without God's gifts, he would not have the power to work, nor would his work bring blessing. Let man think of God's endless goodness and be aware of the constant debt he bears his heavenly Father."

As we celebrate Thanksgiving, may the words of the Psalmist be in our hearts: "How can I repay the Lord for all his generous dealings with me?" While we can never begin to repay God's bountiful gifts on our behalf, we can bring him our offering of authentic gratitude. We can express our gratitude by living lives that are good, kind, encouraging, helpful, happy, loving and generous. Our hearts and lifestyle can reflect God's endless bounty.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Duff

The Grace of Humility

In Luke 14:7-11 Jesus tells a parable about how guests often tend to choose the places of honor at the banquet table. Jesus counsels us: "When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor....But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher'....For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."

Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667) was educated in Cambridge, England and gained fame as an outstanding scholar. He was ordained in 1633 and became the chaplain to Charles 1. Later in his illustrious career, he was consecrated bishop of Down and Connor, Ireland. Taylor was a prolific writer with deep insights into human behavior. In this blog I am drawing heavily on excerpts from his book: "The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living."

Christ calls us to learn to live our lives in humility. Humility is a grace with which God gifts our hearts. This grace must become our habit of life. We can live the grace of humility in the following ways:

1. Maintain a realistic opinion of ourself. This means recognizing that we are spiritually unworthy persons. This suggests we should not judge ourselves according to outward circumstances or what happens to us. All the goodness we experience is God's gracious gifting for our benefit and for the benefit of others. We are merely human--and fallen humans at that. The only thing we can offer that merits worth is our making good choices. But we are not the source--we continue to be hungry when we go without food. When we accept that we are flawed and not fully wise, we should not be angry if someone else agrees! When we know we are unworthy, no one can undervalue or hurt us.

2. Do good things in secret. We will find great satisfaction in being content to go without praise. Let's nurture a love of doing good things in secret. Goodness is its own reward!

3. Never be ashamed. There is no shame regarding our parents, our occupation or present employment, or any reality of our life. Do not be shy about who you really are--speak openly the truth with an indifference to what others might think of you. It is said that Primislaus, the first king of Bohemia kept his old work shoes by his side so that he would always remember his humble upbringing. Do not let praise for yourself be the design of your conversations.

4. Reflect it back to God. Always give God thanks for making you an instrument of his glory for the benefit of others. Be like Moses, whose face shined brightly for others to see, but he did not make it a looking-glass for himself.

5. Focus on the strengths of others. Never compare yourself with others unless it advances your impression of them and appropriately adjusts your impression of yourself. St. Paul encouraged us to think more highly of others than we do of ourselves. It is healthy to focus on the strengths of those around us in order to see our own weaknesses more clearly. In this process we can work to strengthen those areas that are weaker, and we become increasingly whole. Knowing our own weaknesses helps us forgive the weaknesses of others.

6. Enjoy the success of others. It is told of Cyrus that he would never compete in any sport with his friends in which he knew himself to be superior to them. Instead, he would always compete in sports in which he was less skillful than his opponents. He did not want to prove his superiority by winning. He placed more importance on learning from those who were more skilled while at the same time sharing in the joy of their success.

7. The Grace of Humility increases with exercise. Humility always begins as a gift from God, but we can increase our use of this precious gift through exercising the development of a habit of humility. The habit of humility is strengthened through exercise. This exercise includes confessing our sins often to God. This exercise recognizes our impatience, anger, lust and pride as not an occasionally scattered offense in the course of our long life, but rather as one continuous representation of our fallen state. If all our faults and failings were placed next to one another (rather than spaced throughout our long life) we would clearly see the vicious misery of our natural self. This awareness can help when applied as an exercise to the soul, to increase our habit of living the grace of humility.

Our world today hungers for the presence of people who are genuinely humble, because a genuinely humble person is a genuine person! To be humble is to be real. As we learn the habit of living the grace of humility our relationships will become more constructive, healthy, and positive as we interact with one another in a new way of beautiful, life-giving holiness.

With love,

Duff Gorle

Adoring Our Lord

One of my favorite spiritual mentors over the past twenty years has been Henri Nouwen. Unfortunately, I never had the privilege of knowing him in person, but his writings have provided Spiritual Direction and encouragement for my heart journey.

Dr. Nouwen writes of an opportunity he had to meet with Mother Theresa of Calcutta. He was struggling with many things at the time and decided to use this occasion to ask Mother Theresa's advice. He sat down with her and began immediately to explain all his problems and difficulties, trying to convince her of how complicated it all was.

When, after ten minutes or so of elaborate explanation, he finally became quiet, Mother Theresa looked at him and gently said, "Well, when you spend one hour a day adoring your Lord and never do anything that you know is wrong...you will be fine!"

Nouwen writes: "When she said this, I realized, suddenly, that she had punctured my big balloon of complex self-complaints and pointed me far beyond myself to the place of real healing."

So much of the time we tend to respond to questions from below with answers from below. Mother Theresa's answer was a brilliant flash of light in the darkness of such a futile approach. Nouwen had asked some questions from below, and Mother Theresa gave him an answer from above--from God's place rather than from our human place.

In our humanity we might be susceptible to a superficial search for easy answers and shallow meaning. It is important to remember that God's Spirit is ultimately the sole source of spiritual guidance, comfort and knowing.

Sometimes, in living the questions, answers are found. More often, as our questions and issues are tested and matured in context of our practicing the disciplines of solitude and worshipful adoration of our Lord, the questions simply dissolve.

In our spiritual journeying, let us move forward with a continual openness to the disclosure of the transcendent mystery of God, before whom all questions cease. When we "adore our Lord and never do anything we know is wrong," we will be fine!

Seeing Into The Realm Of The Real

Unless we call our attention to what passes beyond what is right before our eyes, we simply won't see it. Sometimes seeing in the realm of the real requires letting go of the ever-present, dominating tyrrany of the tangible. Annie Dillard writes of seeing reality by letting go as becoming "transfixed and emptied"--seeing as "an unscrupulous observer."

Spiritual masters have repeatedly spoken of the mind's polluted river--a seemingly ceaseless flow of trivia and trash that we desperately try to dam-up, but to no avail. We must allow the muddy river to flow unheeded in the dim channels of consciousness, acknowledging its presence without particular interest while we raise our sights and gaze beyond it to the realm of the real, the pure, the silent, the beautiful! "Launch into the deep," says Jacques Ellul, "and you shall see."

The secret of seeing is the pearl of great price.

Think for a moment on Jesus' famous words that "they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not...But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear" (Matthew 13:13, 16, KJV). How frequently I fall into the trap of looking only with the eyes, listening only with the ears, and fail to look and to listen with the heart. My seeing is too often limited, fragmented, and partial.

I pray to learn to see God's reality ever more truly, ever more fully. May I--may we--SEE, in the words of Gerard Manley Hopkins, that "The world is charged with the grandeur of God."

Duff Gorle

Growing In Love

Dear Friend,

Early morning reading today invigorated my heart through the contemplation of St. John's life of growing in love.

The one theme that constantly runs through John's writings is the theme of LOVE. John sums it all up by telling us that Jesus gave to his followers a "new" commandment, and it was to "love one another." (It was "new" because Jesus added the "love others" line to the Shema of Judaism).


But John's own "story of love" is not completely pretty. It appears that John did not learn very much about love from his biological family. He learned love from Jesus!

As a young man, John was crusty and cranky. The gospels tell the truth of at least three significant "love failures" in the life of St. John:

1. John and his brother James (scholars believe they could have been Jesus' cousins) request: "Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory." If love is service, as Jesus explained it, then John fails in love.

2. John's love for others is tested when he doesn't recognize the validity of someone exorcising demons in Jesus' name. John tries to stop the person from doing miracles and reports him to Jesus. Jesus' loving heart would never denounce someone who is breaking down demonic strongholds. He responds to John: "Whoever is not against us is for us." John failed in extending Christ's love to others--in this case, someone who was doing God's work.

3. John hears that some Samaritans refuse hospitality to Jesus "because he was heading for Jerusalem." John's response is: "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?" Ouch! This "disciple of love" prays for hell to fall on these people. Jesus explains to his followers that they are not to think of Sodom and Gomorrah, to call for "ash in a flash," (Scot McNight's words) every time they encounter someone who doesn't respond properly! John's love for the Samaritans is tested, and he fails.

How does John grow into the apostle of love? Even though, when tested, he goes belly-up, the love he experiences in his relationship with Jesus eventually transforms John's story from Thunderbolt to an apostle of love. The would-be MVP becomes the anonymous loved one. Then he writes for us a theology of love.

Nothing is more important for the development of love than being loved. We may be taught the importance of love, but to experience it is to know it. John spent plenty of time with Jesus and in the context of this relationship, he comes to know what it is to be loved. John begins to refer to himself as "the disciple whom Jesus loved."

Like John, you and I can grow into "apostles of love." I'll close today's entry with Henri Nouwen's powerful, practical challenge: "Becoming the Beloved means letting the truth of our Belovedness become enfleshed in everything we think, say, or do....As long as 'being the Beloved' is little more than a beautiful thought or a lofty idea that hangs above my life to keep me from becoming depressed, nothing really changes. What is required is to become the Beloved in the commonplaces of my daily existence...."

It is said that, as an old man, all John wanted to talk about was love. His own students were amazed at how loving he was. He would have been the first to remind them "it was not always so."

Your becoming loving friend!

Duff

Same Sex Marriage and Religious Freedom

Dear Friend,

This is shaping up to be a fascinating political year. As you undoubtedly know, for the first time the California Supreme Court recently upheld the legality of gay marriage in that state. Massachusetts was the first state to approve gay marriage.

It deserves repeating that the Bible affirms the value of human sexuality expressed in marriage between a man and a woman. We also uphold the gospel teaching that Christ died for all, and that his love is inclusive. Christ-followers do not hold hostility toward homosexuals, neither do we have a heart to tolerate unfair discrimination, intolerance, or a breach of any of the gospel principles of love to all God's children.

The issue I'm raising is the emerging reality that religious freedom has less legal protection than gay rights. The California Supreme Court held that homosexuals shall enjoy the same legal status as race--protection as a fundamental right. Yet the same court has refused to recognize that religious liberty is a fundamental right and has ruled against religious freedom interests. According to Alan J. Reinach, Esq., a religious liberty attorney, there is now a "legal imbalance" where gay rights receive maximum protection, while religious freedom is granted less protection.

Now that homosexuality is equated with race, we can expect a wide variety of challenges to religious organizations that adhere to traditional Biblical interpretations. The city of Boston required adoption agencies to serve homosexuals, and refused to accomodate the religious objections of Catholic Charities. Although Catholic Charities accounted for most of the adoptions in Boston, it closed its adoption agencies rather than compromise its religious convictions. Thousands of children are now "stuck" in foster care as the city itself has not chosen to provide adoption services to gay couples.

I read that cases have been filed against wedding photographers who refuse to film gay wedding ceremonies. Bob Jones University lost its tax exemption because its policy against interracial dating was inconsistent with public policy. Similar challenges to the tax exempt status of churches and other religious organizations are expected.

This past May, the California Supreme Court heard arguments that two doctors and a medical clinic discriminated against a lesbian couple by denying them artificial insemination services. The doctors argued that they properly referred the patients for services that they could not conscientiously provide. Lawyers for the patients insist that religion not be allowed as a defense.

No matter where you or I come down on any of these issues, the point is that our long-held assumption that religious liberty enjoys a preferred status in the USA as a fundamental constitutional right is no longer necessarily true. In its 1990 peyote decision, the Supreme Court discarded the First Amendment's protection for the free exercise of religion as a "luxury that a well-ordered society can no longer afford." One legal observer noted the court has ruled against religious freedom in every case since that time. For example, in 1995, the Court held that Evelyn Smith's Presbyterian faith was not a good enough reason to refuse to rent one of her four duplex apartments to an unmarried [heterosexual] couple, despite the fact that in her city, Cal State Chico maintained hundreds of housing units exclusively for married couples.

The issue of gay marriage may be resolved this November when Californians have the opportunity to amend the state constitution to restrict marriage to a man and a woman. But this will not change the legal status of homosexuality as a fundamental right, given more protection than the right to practice one's faith.

It appears the trend in America is that religious freedom will mean the freedom to hold one's faith in private, but not to practice it publicly.

Let us pray for courage to honor Christ regardless of the cultural and legal environment we may encounter in the days ahead.

With love and hope!

Duff Gorle

War From A Biblical Standpoint

This is a tiny part of a much larger discussion in which many Christians are engaged relating to how to view the issue of war from a Biblical standpoint.

The Bible presents war as a disciplining action reflecting the judgment of God. When people obeyed God and lived by his principles, they were rewarded with peace. When war was waged, as a dire necessity, against corrupt states, God's faithful people suffered few losses. Repeatedly we see instances where God's people, even though terribly outnumbered, could successfully rout many.

How does war in the Bible square with the sixth commandment, "Thou shalt not kill?" John Calvin pointed out that followers of God's law should not be part of unjustly doing violence to others. By this standard, hundreds of political and economic wars and badly labeled "revolutions" in our world's recent history are wars that Godly people should oppose. Unjust violence can be terrorism under the guise of liberation.

On the other hand, is it ever right to kill? It seems that according to the Bible defensive war (and capital punishment) are legitimate because they react to the unjust deeds of criminal terror, whether that terrorism is conducted against individuals or a nation.

God's loving people have a passion for preventing violence. We who would not ourselves "harm a fly" cannot stand aside watching when a neighbor is being savagely beaten by criminals who have no respect for human dignity or God's rule of peace. We are committed to peace and serving the Prince of Peace.

Two examples of Bible teaching on war stand in juxtaposition to each other which suggests the need for a balanced approach to understanding the Biblical perspective:

1. Psalm 68:30 "Rebuke the company of spearmen....Scatter the people who delight in war."

2. Proverbs 24:6 "For by wise counsel you shall make war...."

I'm interested in hearing what you think about the Bible's teaching on war. Our nation's participation in war is one of the most important themes in this year's election. Let's help to sharpen one another on the Biblical standpoint of war.

In peace,

Duff Gorle