May you know that the same breath of God that is keeping you alive is keeping your neighbor alive and is given equally and indiscriminately to each one of us.

In today’s gospel reading, we have a profound but not uncommon, difference of opinion between the Pharisees and Jesus. It is a difference of opinion between rituals and one’s motives. Between the head and the heart.

“As shoes for your feet, put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.”

Wisdom doesn’t just come from reading the right books or having a good education. Wisdom draws on all of our knowledge, intelligence, and life experience and applies it to make just decisions, and to take just actions, for the good of ourselves and others. But there is another element in defining wisdom, when we look at it from a spiritual perspective, and that is being attuned to the Spirit in each one of us to discern what is true, and to be guided in ways that transcend our understanding.

At this table, everyone is invited and everyone receives bread, wine, and a blessing. And everyone leaves differently than how they came here: fed, nourished, and blessed.

Through our efforts as a community, God will help us work toward liberating others, as we ourselves are liberated.

Agape love is the kind of love that challenges us to see beyond our biases and our disagreements. It is the kind of love that allows us to pray for peace and goodness for those whom we don’t like. 

Agape love, which is not always easy to achieve, is the type of love that causes us to see the full humanity of all of God’s people. 

Are we willing to speak truth to power and speak for those who cannot speak for themselves? Are we willing to leave our comfort zones long enough to be God’s hands and feet in the world?

The assumption in contemplative prayer is that God is already here—within us…around us—waiting for us to become more aware of God’s presence.

Christians are a new creation – there’s a new way to be human in the world, and it looks like being reconciled to God and then becoming a minister of reconciliation.

The Apostle Paul refers to this shift of the heart as the “spirit of faith,” as he helps the Corinthians understand that losing our lives is the path to freedom, because surrendering to God opens us to the fullness of God.

We can start by rediscovering the Sabbath. Enjoying the gift of rest and renewal that comes with the Sabbath. Use it as a means to recharge your physical, emotional, and spiritual batteries so that you are fully charged to embrace the world.

“…the only thing sillier than thinking we can explain the ways of God from a human perspective, is thinking that it doesn’t matter.”

Through Pentecost, God once again disrupts the monotony of our everyday lives in a way that feels uncomfortable yet compels us to wake up and listen. Once we are listening, God sends God’s spirit to remind us to always work towards unity and love for all. Pentecost in particular reminds us that it is US that God is calling to do the work of building up a unified, welcoming, beloved community for all people!

We don’t have to take on the weight of being able to figure all of it out with our intellect alone. When we pray and listen closely, God is with us.

Jesus is saying that we should always be willing to express joy. Whether it be with others or celebrating personal joy. We should never be too busy, too serious or too self-involved to allow joy in our lives.

God’s love—as God abides in us and we abide in God—is enduring, everlasting, and meant to be shared with the world around us.

“Perhaps you aren’t fully sure what the word abide means. To abide is to bear patiently, to endure without yielding, and to accept without objection.”