Posted by Paul Edwards (Fr. Paul) on Jul 10, 2014 | Comments (0)


Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Click here to go to the Bottom Line Meditations for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Godly Abiding Spiritually in Jesus Changes the Meaning of What we See Worldly When Not Abiding in Jesus.

Spirituality is our innate ability to feel the difference worldly or godly thinking makes to the way scripture translates to our daily life and relationships.

All Scripture is a testimony to Jesus Christ, who is the Word of God. He is the complete revelation of God’s will of grace for salvation. Grace is the only unfailing rule of faith and practice for the Christian life.

The Gospel of grace is: rather than trying to be more faithful to become faithful, we become faithful by feeling the Faith God already has for and in us.

The Strength of Christianity is Grace

John 1:14 “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Another name for Jesus is "Grace". Another name for God is "Grace". We are saved by GRACE. "Love" is not Love if it is not grace. This is true for "Faith", "Hope", "Joy" and all other theological words of significance in the scripture.

Until someone experiences the grace gift in their lives, all other theological words have no real meaning. Why not begin to use the word "grace" in place of "Jesus", "God", "the Spirit", "Love" and so on? It might seem inappropriate to do so. However, until it is actually experienced it will make no sense at all.

That is what this year is all about. Grace, did you get it?

 

Grace is like diamond, it is forever.

Pray this prayer from the Collect for this Sunday:

”Almighty God, mercifully give us those things which for our blindness we cannot ask.”

Now quietly move into God's Presence and pray the prayer again:

“Almighty God, mercifully give us those things which for our blindness we cannot ask.”

Did you hear anything different?

 

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 “The kingdom of heaven is...”

Oh No! Not another parable of The Kingdom of Heaven!

The Kingdom is compared to someone who sows good seed in his field. An enemy sows weeds. The plants came up with the weeds. The decision is to let them grow together until the harvest when the weeds will be burned and the wheat stored in the barn.

Rationally this story is quite simple. The Son of man sows the good seed which are the children of the Kingdom. The weeds are the children of the devil. The field is the world.
The reapers are angels who gather out of His kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers. The righteous will shine in the Kingdom of their Father at the end times.

What is the rational moral example here? God lets both the good and the evil grow in His Kingdom Garden until the harvest time. Then the evil will be burned and the good will shine. We must be careful we are not among the evil doers. Another rational way of looking at this parable is that we have in us both good and evil. At the harvest time the evil will be purged from us and we will all be in the Kingdom shining.

The Spiritual nature of this is the experience of Jesus. The Kingdom of God is not a place, or a people. It is a reign of God. World War II was not fought to conquer the land of Germany or to kill the people. It was to destroy the reign of Hitler.

In the case of the Kingdom of God, the purpose is to get into His Presence. The Presence of God with Jesus is the Kingdom. Jesus is truly God and truly Human. His uniqueness was He had free choice. That is something God does not have. God is unconditional inclusive Love. He can do nothing else but Love in this manner. Jesus’ human nature gave Him the choice of doing God’s will or His will. Matthew 26:42

Jesus chose to not let his head create his feelings, but to be in God’s Presence so that the feeling of the Presence of His Father in the Kingdom determined what He thought in any situation. He chose to do what the Father called Him to do. John 5:17, 5:20ff

That is the experience of Jesus and this is our experience as well. The Kingdom of God’s Presence is within us. We have the same choice Jesus had. We can chose to be out of the Kingdom by letting our head create our feelings about what happens to us. We can consciously choose to be in the Kingdom to feel His Presence which creates the Wisdom in the event.

We do not have to wait until the end times. We make these choices daily. What does your field look like today? You can try to correct it or you can pray Come Lord Jesus, and His angels will do the correcting anytime they are sent.

“Almighty God, mercifully give us those things which for our blindness we cannot ask.”


THE DISCIPLE-SHIFT: The Virtual Small Group: Members share once a week with their group through the internet when a shift from being out to being in the Presence made a difference.


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