I Share in Your I Am

Open Presence,
gentle and loving.

You invite me
into your embrace.

You call me
out of the noise and clutter of my mind
into the calm of your heart.

You are the door
through which I enter.

You are the energy
that draws me deeper.

You are the Spirit
revealing to me
that I share in your
I Am.

It is more important to Belong than it is to Believe

I’ve recently read Nadia Bolz-Weber’s “Accidental Saints: Finding God in all the wrong people.” Nadia is a tattooed and cursing Lutheran Pastor in Denver, who founded the House for All Sinners and Saints. The birth of this particular community came from the call on Nadia’s ministry to start a church community for the marginalised - a place for people who didn’t “fit in” to mainstream conservative church. Nadia tells the story of a middle aged gay woman, who did not believe in Jesus, but who found “meaning in the belonging” at the House for All Sinners and Saints. This person found purpose in simply belonging to the community. After a number of years of being a part of this inclusive church, the woman had a crisis of faith, and asks for a meeting with Nadia - she was starting to believe in Jesus! Through her experience of belonging to this Christian community, as she was, she eventually came to faith in Jesus. What a beautiful story of transformation. The Christian church, for far too long, has been very good at judging people, telling people who was in and who was out, who was welcome and who was unwelcome, how to behave and how not to behave, what to believe and what not to believe. And if you didn’t conform, you were made to feel guilty, and excluded from the “Holy Communion.” The beautiful truth is that there is no one outside of “Communion” with God - and no church denomination or world religion can change or altar that! Historically the church has been more concerned about being “correct” than about being “connected.” The Good News in Jesus is not judgement, but grace. Jesus calls us to open up to what and who we already are. We are more than our ego personalities. We are more than our moral behaviour. We are more than what we can think or conceive. Our deepest and truest self, our spiritual hearts, are one with the Divine Life. It is the one Life and Love that we all share. It is the place where everyone belongs. The call on the church today is to get better at helping all people belong…as they are and where they are. Belief in who Jesus is will come.

What is it?

What is it
to be alone with Spirit?

It is
to be alone with self
in the presence of Self

and experience love.

What is it
to know temptation?

It is
to know weakness within self
in the presence of Self

and experience compassion.

What is it
to live more fully?

It is
to be changed
by love and compassion

and experience the presence of God.

the way

so many walls
so many barriers

every created
person or thing
every human
thought or action
every communal
prayer or ritual

is a potential obstacle
to communion
with the Source

the way
of jesus is
the way
of Spirit
the way
of Love

the way
that breaks through
walls
the way
that tears down
barriers

the way
that is less about letter
the way
that is more about spirit

the way
that transforms
persons
things
thoughts
actions
prayers
rituals
into pathways
to
holy communion

All are Welcome and Belong to the Church and God that I Know

Beginning a new year, reflecting on the past and looking forward to the future, (and in spite of the recent Anglican Primates decision to exclude the Episcopal Church of the USA because of human sexuality issues) I am aware of a deep sense of thankfulness to be part of the Anglican Church of Canada, the Dioceses in Newfoundland and Labrador, and its witness. 

Our church and its leadership has been on the front lines in opening the doors, welcoming and sponsoring Syrian refugee families. Inspiring inner city work is being done as our church has partnered with Safe Harbour Outreach Project to provide a new location to operate their human rights-based sex worker advocacy program.” Our church has been doing important work with a new furniture bank called “Home Again.” These are only some of the outreach and witness of the larger church in the last year in our local diocese. At the parish level throughout our province and nation, there are uncountable expressions of outreach, care and inclusion of all people of gender, colour, faith, culture, and sexuality. 

Even more than this, in a global climate that is charged with fear and the highlighting and excluding of what differentiates and separates, I am thankful to be part of an Anglican Church of Canada that is seeking to include any and all inquirers of faith and deepening life, and a church that is encouraging understanding, respect and dialogue with every expression of life affirming faith, ideology and culture. 

This is all beautiful and of God. But the truth remains that in order for our Church to survive on the margins of society and to offer effective outreach and witness to the community and wider world, we need to go deeper. Jesus never did say “worship me,” but he did say “follow me.” As we deepen our awareness of the gift of Christmas, that each and every one of us are incarnations of God, we will deepen our consciousness as a church, as a society, as a global village, that all are included, all are loved, all are adored. That’s the church that I belong to. That’s the church I am thankful for.

The Church has left the Building

marginalized church
on fringes
of modern society

discerning identity
it's place
in a changing world


no longer dictating
what to believe
how to live

inviting people
into community
exploring

depths of God
identity
that is love

becoming

a place of blessing
the church
outside the building

Epiphany of Love

Good news
for all peoples
for all times.

The treasure
that all cultures and creeds
seek.

The star
the brightness
of human and divine.

We are not separate
from God.
We are not separate
from each other.

The babe from Bethlehem,
the child from Nazareth,
the man from Galilee,

has made known
to all peoples
to all times,

the way
of love,

for all to make known
to all peoples
to all times.