Alignment & Integrity

January 22, 2021 — Leave a comment

And God placed all things under [Christ’s] feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Ephesians 1:22-23

You ever turn your heard one way and leave your body facing another? There is strain not only in the neck; if you listen and quiet down enough, you’ll feel the tension and battle ripple through from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet. There is a sense of integrity that holds us up from the top of our spine which is at the center of our head to the bottom of our sits bones to the bottom of our feet. When we stand in that, our whole body relaxes into peace and purpose.

There is a vulnerability and attention required to face our bodies in the direction of our head & eyes. There is a surrender of areas our eyes and head are not facing and a trust that what we see in front and in our periphery are what we are supposed to be aware of right now. However if you stay attuned, your back isn’t just exposed and vulnerable — it too can sense and focus on a different level.

Jesus was human and the limitation of that is he could only be at one place a time, however he could have a constant ambient care for the world at large. But in each moment, he needed to honor what was in front of him and act accordingly. That was what was most useful for his audience in each given moment. That was what was most useful for the writers to string together his journey in the gospel: a step at a time, in the direction that was led by his head, God. The task for us is to have that same focus and faith to the things right in front of us, while holding ever so softly all the things that are happening around us. We do not exist in a vacuum. We are interdependent and constantly affecting each other. Can you find the integrity and alignment in your body so that it aligns with God’s kingdom and purpose that includes all of humanity?

Vigilance in Thanksgiving & Prayer

January 21, 2021 — Leave a comment

For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him as his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also the one to come.

Ephesians 1:15-21

Are we so moved by the faith others have in God and their love for people that we are continually thankful for them and keep them in our prayers? I certainly catch myself skeptical that anyone has this faith and love. I stop myself because I’m so concerned with judging whether their faith is big enough and love for others obvious enough. I am guilty of this when I think of the Americans to tout Jesus name while storming the capitol during an insurrection. I am guilty of neglecting those who say they are Christians yet act in a way that doesn’t align with my beliefs. I want to block these people out on the basis that my reason for even thinking and praying for them does not exist. And I move on, and life goes on.

But what if? What if I hold the first part of this clause loosely and expand my awareness and heart to people who exclaim faith in God and people who love, with less judgment and more compassion, and shift to the prayer portion. What if instead of writing others off, I am vigilant about praying that wisdom and truth for all, including myself? What if I am vigilant with being thankful and staying in gratitude and service? What if I am vigilant about my OWN faith in God and my OWN love for God’s people, and praying for myself to grow in awareness, truth and wisdom? I think this place of non-judgment and expansion is the only healthy and potentially most effective/efficient way to spur action. Vigilance in prayer inevitably lead to action. Prayer is active. Prayer is shifting our hearts and the hearts of others so that we come into alignment with God’s purposes of unity and redemption.

My prayer is that we let go of our need to fix others, focus on how we can up our faith and love, and in turn inspire others to do the same through tangible demonstration.

Agency in Our Belief & Praise

January 20, 2021 — Leave a comment

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession — to the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 1:13-14

Hearing leads to belief. Belief leads to inclusion. Inclusion leads to promise. Promise leads to praise. The middle part of this journey — inclusion & promise — are guaranteed! When you have the belief, you are included. Period. When you are included and stamped with the Spirit of God, you are part of the promise and your inheritance is locked in. It’s the beginning and living out of this journey where we have more agency.

Hearing to Belief. There is a choice to be curious and open. You don’t have to be ripped naked and have all other noises zoned out. You simply need to have some part of your heart tuned in to the message of the gospel. The beauty of the gospel is that it comes in all languages, mediums and methods. If there is space, it can find its way in. And the belief doesn’t have to be outwardly demonstrative. I believe gravity exists — I don’t think about that every moment of my life even though that belief is my whole existence on earth. Same with belief in the gospel. It can come in and out, and be louder at certain moments when you choose to notice, and quieter when you simply trust it’s swimming in your existence.

Promise to Praise. There is a choice here to be generous and brave. You don’t have to be annoyingly overspiritualized and add #blessed to every social media post. You simply are aware of this full deposit that you have. The beauty of the Holy Spirit is that it expresses in all kinds of manners. If there is a desire to share, it will ooze out. How can your praise exist in words and deeds? In moments of quiet and mundanity and in sacred and full times? If you have the promise and know the promise, can you open a little more today so we can see inside that transformed heart?

The choice within

January 20, 2021 — 1 Comment

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 1:11-12

We have been predestined to demonstrate God’s glory. Whether I live by faith or live in fear, I display God’s glory. Which is more fun? Whether I live generously or live stingy, I display God’s glory. Which makes life more delicious? Whether I live knowing my worth or live in constant self-doubt, I display God’s glory. Which inspires others? Whether I believing in God or live skeptical of anything outside of me, I display God’s glory. Which makes the next day more appealing? We are predestined to display God’s glory but you have the choice to decide how to carry that out. The outcome is the same: unity of heaven & earth, and hope triumphs over evil.

God’s pleasurable will

January 18, 2021 — Leave a comment

With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment — to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

Ephesians 1:8-10

God’s will is to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. This happens in Christ and when the times reach their fulfillment. The need to bring things into unity means that presently there is a separation. The notion that there has been mystery in God’s will shows that there is a time of not knowing and a time of knowing. To tell us that times will reach their fulfillment means we are currently unfinished and in progress.

What is the wisdom of knowing what is God’s plan and intentions, in the present in-progress moment? How does unity and fulfillment under Christ affect how we live today?

No matter how grim today feels, the end is good. That is hope. How can hope loosen your grip on things you are difficult and you don’t have control over? No matter how unfinished and stuck this moment feels, we are living into a pleasurable unified fulfilled future. How can you see this moment still as a foreshadow of what is to come? On the days of extreme loneliness and separation, know that God’s heart is unity and pleasure. Is there any space to let the latter break through?

However, knowing in our minds doesn’t always translate into knowing in our bodies and souls. How can we digest knowledge and wisdom into a holistic understanding in our body? Our bodies are pretty intelligent. If you have a moment now, take a breath, close your eyes and mediate on a time when you felt integrity and play in your body. When things seemed possible. When you were curious and full of wonder? When your body was quicker and braver than the doubtful and loud voice in your head?

Where were you? Who were you with? What were you doing? Where is that feeling and sensation in your body?

Sit in that. Swim in that. You have access to this as well. Your body knows the mystery of what God is talking about already. Live from this.

Love is Offensive

January 16, 2021 — Leave a comment

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.

Ephesians 1:7-8

I used to so buy into this idea that Jesus’ blood washed away my sins. That through Jesus’ sacrifice, my transgressions are forgiven and my propensities to turn from God are not held against me. Thank you JESUS!

Many people I love find the above so offensive. The idea that we have sin makes them angry. The idea that God had to kill himself to redeem us is horrifying. The idea that I need someone to forgive my transgressions means there’s a “right way of being,” and who is to say what that is?

I haven’t swung so far to the other side that I have scraped Jesus’ blood and sin. I simply have more questions. How can the idea of sin be healthy and loving? How can the sacrifice of God lean more into the meaning than the actual act? How can a right way of being and living also have room for inclusion, diversity and tolerance?

What is sin? This is where I’ve landed so I feel integrity in my body and in what I believe God to be. Sin is a way of living that doesn’t honor our highest selves. I believe our highest selves is divine and in alignment with God. I believe our highest selves is attuned and in step with the Spirit of God in us. Anything outside of that divine integrity is sin. God created us with this wholeness, fullness, nakedness, full of purpose and connection. That was what was lost when sin entered. We are either moving towards our wholeness & divine connection, or moving away from it. The beauty is, each step allows for the pivot, the choice to move in the path towards connection.

Jesus’ death is offensive. Capital punishment and the death penalty are wrong, and often committed against innocent humans. Why would God use such a horrible image to showcase his love? Because death and love are but two sides of the same coin. LOVE is offensive. It requires a dying of self for another. It requires a dying of self-interest to include another. Often we love because we think we’ll be loved in return or it’s the right thing to do. While we may never take it all the way to the edge like Jesus did, his death was a kind of love that doesn’t ask for anything in return besides belief. I think Jesus’ willing death just so we can experience God doesn’t commute in our minds that have been knocked down by this cruel world. Jesus truly loves us that much, that it doesn’t quite make sense.

Nothing angers me more than Scriptures that are vehicles for intolerance, exclusion and hate. It is the OPPOSITE of God, God among us, God for us, God in us. The right way of living cannot be defined by any man in this world. The right way of living…I’m not sure. It’s a daily, moment-to-moment choosing. It does no harm, to self, others or God. It’s more colorful than we could ever imagine and full of healthy and freeing boundaries.

Pleasure, Praise & Play

January 14, 2021 — Leave a comment

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will — to praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

Ephesians 1:4-6

It is God’s pleasure and will to call us his children. It is out of God’s love that he brings us in. Our ability to praise God’s grace is even a thing God gives us. Pleasure, praise and love are given to us freely and extravagantly.

When was the last time you allowed yourself to feel pleasure, praise freely and love deeply?

Pleasure. What comes to mind for you when you meditate on that word? “I’m not allowed…” “That’s indulgent…” “It’s..dirty.” Do guilt, shame and suppression arise? God started with pleasure! We are part of God’s pleasure! We, too, are allowed to know what is pleasurable, seek after what feels like ease in our body. Pleasure is our inherent coherence with the divine.

Praise… of his glorious grace. There is humility when you praise of God’s grace. There is an awareness when you really hold God’s grace. Not for the grace of God, go I… How can we praise from this deep humility and awareness, aware that you are not entitled to anything and humbled that if it were not for the grace of God, you would not be here? How can be praise in such a way that invites others into God’s grace, not push them away because of tone-deafness, but rather with a desire to share, even give your joy so another can experience it as well?

Love. Love is dangerous. Love demands of us to give so much we risk getting hurt. Love is removing the armor and drawing near and close. Love hopes. Love sees the other with as much worth and ferocity as God sees them. Can you love in this explosive way?

Where can you invite pleasure into your life today? How can you praise through eyes of wonder? Who can you love today that demands faith and courage?

Divine Embodiment

January 13, 2021 — Leave a comment

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Ephesians 1:3

There exists simultaneously this physical realm and the heavenly realms. Those moments when you are stunned and stopped by a beautiful sunset overlooking the seemingly unmoving waters feels like an intersection. That moment when you bump into the most unexpected person at the most ordinary of places and know deep in your heart that was meant to be: that’s a moment. That moment when a third space is created when you and another are so present it feels as if you are one is an intersection. These fully present divine moments have even happened on Zoom for me!

According to this version, in our heavenly realms, we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. We have a oneness. We have an abundance. We have all the traits listed in 1 Corinthians 13 regarding love: patience, kindness, forgiveness and all the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5: gentleness, self-control, faithfulness…and so forth. These are all ours. They are already our reality. But when our worldly/physical realm becomes the only thing occupying our mind and body, we lose access to all our spiritual blessings. We are dragged down by the circumstances of the present moment and pulled in all directions unsure of where our feet need to be rooted. The opposite can also be true. We can be so preoccupied with the heavenly realms that we lose touch with where God has placed us right now on earth. We can know these spiritual blessings yet they will have no potency in the present moment.

The task is to know both so well, to live in that intersection. How can I hold the present moment and my surroundings lightly, while allowing the peace and love that is divine and mine penetrate through me and into me? How can I be that porous with the divine world in this physical world? How can I find the divine in the profane and the physical in the sacred? Jesus was the perfect embodiment of divine humanity. How can we live that out?

But first, who is God?

January 13, 2021 — Leave a comment

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:1-2

Paul knew his identity. He knew his audience. And he knew his message. Each step builds off of the prior planting. Before Paul could have his message, he needed to know his audience. He needed to know the people he was trying to communicate with. He needed to understand what specifically the people of Ephesus needed to hear, what were their pains, what were their hopes, what language would best resonate. The messages comes out of the audience because its purpose is to serve those receiving. Before Paul could find his audience, he needed to know who he was. He needed to know who he was called to connect with. He needed to know his community. He needed to understand his place in the world. Out of that trust and stillness emanates the connections. Before Paul could know who he was, he needed to know God. He needed to know the God who created him and the world. He needed to know the God who structured and watches over this world. He needed to know that God is kind, good, loving and desires to redeem all of this world. He needed to know and experience the God who is near, who can move mountains, who can do the impossible. Paul’s identity flows out of this knowing of God.

  1. How do you see God? How do you view God? What does God’s identity say about your identity?
  2. Who are you? What is your “title” or “role” in God’s kingdom? Who needs your specific leadership and wisdom?
  3. Who are the people you already connect with? Who are the people you hope to connect with? What are they longing for? What do they hope for?
  4. What message and offering will serve the people you are called to? What message and offering will bring these people to God’s presence?

Remember that Pivotal Moment

January 11, 2021 — Leave a comment

Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For, ‘In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.’ And, ‘But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.’ But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.

Hebrews 10:32-39

Remember when you were a kid and jumped four monkey bars because you had to and because you really believed you could make it? Remember when you were a kid and skateboarded and scraped your knees real bad, yet got back up and dared to get back on it? Remember when you first came to know God’s love? Where you were? Who you were with? What God said exactly to your aching, desperate heart? Remember how nothing of this world could pop that hope and joy of feeling so loved, seen and on mission? God had you. God saw you. God was pushing you onto a path that required insane faith and courage.

Remember those moments during the pandemic when you were so grateful you could connect with a friend, even though it was on shitty wifi over Zoom? Remember that first hug after months of not having hugged anyone? Remember that moment when you thought, oh even through this I can come out better and God is with me? Remember when you got so angry over the racism and killings? Remember when you vowed to give your life to a cause greater than yourself? Remember when you were on fire to protest even if it meant you might be called out for not knowing enough or not having done enough up till now? Remember when despite that fear, you went anyway because you trusted that these incremental steps of change were the most important? Remember when you pulled all those resources to make a difference for the elections? Remember when you felt that all this current pain is worth it?

As each day passes and explosive events evolve into daily occurrences that we are desensitized to, and our first impression fervor fades into acceptance or perhaps apathy, I pray we come back to that initial faith and fervor. I pray that we go back to that moment when God called you, God saw you and demanded that you know with all your being that you are called for something huge. I pray that we go back to that moment when we really believe that our actions and our words really matter and can impact in huge ways. I pray that acceptance of evil in the world and apathy in our hearts never have time to settle. I pray that we do the small incremental acts that change the community around us, and mostly change the heart within us. Let us remember who we have been called to be and persevere till we receive the prizes full.