tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6034302346804708530.post415165432686079313..comments2011-08-12T08:56:20.664-04:00Comments on For Gates of Hope: Breaking down the siloMark Beckwithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02680937603681281705noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6034302346804708530.post-50803276217328512222010-12-08T20:11:32.299-05:002010-12-08T20:11:32.299-05:00Dear Reverend,
We are called into communion with ...Dear Reverend,<br /><br />We are called into communion with God in the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit unites all God's children in a community of spirit bound by love. Thats the good news.<br /><br />Personal silos undermines that unity, that spirit of community. As a person in recovery I have learned that my disease of alcoholism constantly works to undermine my sobriety. It "prowls around like a roaring lion seeking to devour me". It wants to isolate me to make it easier to weaken my emotional health and spiritual condition. Alone I am at terrible risk of succumbing to the lies and deceptions I tell myself. If I remain isolated and shut myself off from others my self delusions will eventually anoint my disease with sovereignty over my spirit, mind and body. This will have terrible consequences for myself and for the people that are part of my life.<br /><br />John Donne writes that "No man is an island" and the remarkable insight offered by the 17th Meditation is that our human imperfections or our wounds provide us compassionate insight into the distressed condition of our brothers and sisters. It allows us to understand others and offer them a hand of assistance so that we might also be healed and affirmed as one in unity with The Holy Spirit. Perhaps we don't hear or understand that the bell tolls to rise us from the solitary places our minds and bodies retreat to in the hope of finding false refuge. But God calls us to live free in the liberty of hopeful communities sharing a fearless communion that is only achieved in trusted service and loving unity with others. Any man's death (distress) diminishes me, because "I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee." John Donne<br /><br />Selah<br /><br />peace and prayers to all the beloved,<br /><br />Riskrapperriskrapperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15651028125373402982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6034302346804708530.post-29201921749146248422010-12-08T11:40:40.441-05:002010-12-08T11:40:40.441-05:00The Voice of God
I sought to hear the voice of...The Voice of God<br /><br /> I sought to hear the voice of God, <br /> And climbed the topmost steeple. <br /> But God declared: "Go down again, <br /> I dwell among the people." <br /><br />Louis Newman (1893-1972)Deacon Deborahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16203618758039516972noreply@blogger.com