Your Love

its a starless night tonight
but i still stare at the sky
waiting for a change, hoping for your love
as i age and turn over a new page.

breath of life taketh my heart
to a place where we are not worlds apart
for i fear falling away
like stars during the day,

i listen to your voice
as i try to fall asleep
and i remember how to pray.
Father, for those who are in pain
or are filled with shame
may the mention of your name
make possible what seems to be in vain.

Refuge

you know my thoughts
without your help
i will soon dwell in the silence of death
My foot is slipping, Lord
support me
when anxiety is great within me
may your consolation bring joy to my soul
Lord become my fortress
be the one in whom i take refuge

live life....

i hope to live life so as to be missed...
crazy as it is, on my birthday i hope this
one wish does come true.

crack-pot

i'm an earthen vessel
a pot moulded by the maker
when i'm broken that's when
the light comes in...

be lifted high

i pray Jesus that your story may be heard
when they talk about me
when i die
may your name be glorified,
may you be lifted high.

scarlet letter

Scarlet Letter

Words hide the emotions

that I struggle to forgive

so I try to write

what my heart can not stop to fight

when I try to pray you turn me away

for my letter ‘A’ that is etched to stay

yet I am made of clay and made to pay

for all that happened yesterday

am I her mother if I let her be

without a father she can see

or will life be so unkind to she

that she will turn her back to flee

i know my actions are my own

but the sin in me is hard to atone

leaving my child without a home

is nothing i am proud of, God my heart is torn.

I know only misery

as a preacher i am not so strong

how tough can it be to weather the storm

when they play me the song

love keeps no record of wrong

your peace we seek Christ, yes, for so long


Is there another GOD who can touch believers

to embrace the sinners who are just beginners

in their search for someone who can redeem us

for with enemies on either side

a true face is much harder to find.

if...

if i had enough love
i would never be hurt by the things that people do or say
if i had enough love
i would share what i had and not be selfish in any way
if i had enough love
i would never turn away from those who are close
or far away
if i had enough love
i would trust in miracles everyday
if i had enough love
i would be wiser than the wisest men
if i had enough love
i would sit among sinners for i am one of them
if i had enough love
i would humble myself and allow others to feed me
if i had enough love
i would care to love others as much as i love myself
if i had enough love
i would want to be loved.

Changing People From the Inside Out

Changing People From the Inside Out

In my early days as a reporter, I saw terrible poverty. I remember sitting in a dark, mildewed cellar that was home to immigrant parents with several children, the rain pouring through the ceiling and a rat running across the floor. I listened in disbelief as the distraught father told me how much rent he was paying his landlord.

Not long after, I was in a remote country where the fly-blown carcass of a skinny goat or pig lay outside the doorless entry to a hovel that someone called home. It was left outside because the stench of the decimated animal that would feed the family for another week was impossible to bear inside.

Most of us have seen or experienced social injustice in one way or another, and sometimes it etches itself on our memory as this did to mine. Exposed to extreme injustice for long enough, some Christians conclude that their primary obligation is to attack what they see as its root cause by engineering changes in government, by force or revolution if necessary. It’s easy to pick passages from the New Testament to prove that Jesus was a constant thorn in the side of the ruling elite. He cleared the temple of money changers. He condemned the Pharisees for their insistence on burdensome traditions that weighed on the common people. He urged the rich to give away their goods to the poor.

But, if we take it no further than His criticism of some of the Establishment figures of the day, I believe that we are left with a narrow and inadequate view of Jesus Christ. It makes Him less than He was, and robs His teachings and life of what was unique. He had plenty of opportunity to condemn the oppressive Romans. Yet Jesus paid also taxes and advised the people to “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.”

His message was not revolution in the way we usually understand that word. He was about changing people’s hearts from the inside, one at a time if necessary. Certainly, He would have people help the homeless family from their poverty with a lift up – but He would also change the heart of the landlord, permanently. Rather than stir up anger in others, He urged them to be peacemakers and to pray for their enemies. By so doing, He would change the very thinking of those who have the power to effect more lasting change.

A former president of my Church said some years ago: "The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature."

Jesus Christ did not come to the world to forcibly engineer social revolution or foment rebellion, but to effect spiritual regeneration. He testified of the Father who sent Him. He urged love of God and one’s neighbor and asked those who heard Him to forsake sin. He said repeatedly that His kingdom was not of this world. The consummation of His mission was not rebellion, but reconciliation through the Atonement and the Resurrection.

Posted by Michael Otterson on May 13, 2007 11:32 AM

This is one of the better articles i have read.

Jesus calls us to follow him as individuals but as we continue to let his spirit work on us, then we are able to come together and effect change.

Jesus Broke Barriers; Pope Builds Them

Pope Benedict XVI and his predecessor John Paul II have consistently put themselves on the side of the aristocracy, the landowners and the well-to-do in Latin America. Local Roman Catholics like Leonardo Boff and Bishop Romero, in contradistinction, put themselves on the side of the poor and dispossessed. Bishop Romero was murdered. Leonardo Boff was laicized.

The issue is not so much whether Jesus was a social revolutionary or not, the real issue is why Benedict XVI is not.

Posted by John Shelby Spong on May 13, 2007 4:59 PM

the writer of this article abdicates his own responsibility and instead pours blame, which is always the easiest thing to do.

Was Jesus a revolutionary?

In Latin America, Social Justice Central to Faith

Was Jesus a revolutionary?

Well … obviously not in the conventional sense. Yet, with the pope in Brazil last week to open a meeting of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Latin America and the Caribbean, the question has surfaced again. Why? Because this region, which has the most Catholics, is also the most unequal in the world. While Catholic leaders worry about growing secularization and the hemorrhaging of the faithful to Pentecostal churches, pervasive poverty is impossible to ignore. So is the familiar question, What would Jesus do?, and another, What should his followers do?

Most agree they should feed the hungry and clothe the naked. But what about the policies and institutions that generate death-dealing poverty? Not all agree on a response. Bishop Hélder Câmara of Brazil used to say, “When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.”

Some, including some bishops, see the church’s mission as the salvation of souls –of rich and poor alike. For these Christians, promoting justice, although important, is not strictly “religious.” It ranks low on the church’s agenda.

For others, social justice is central to the faith. The poor –meaning all oppressed and vulnerable people-- are the crucified vicars of Christ today. Unless the church walks with them, it fails to walk with him.

Take Guatemala, where half the children under five are chronically undernourished and wealth and income are extremely concentrated. How can the church announce a credible good news (“gospel”) there, if it fails to denounce that situation? Fortunately, the church in Guatemala does protest --and suffers for its trouble.

Christians with this justice-oriented faith place the poor at the center of their worldview and at the top of the church’s agenda. For them, the same Jesus who said, “My kingdom is not of this world” also said, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth.” His kingdom (or reign) does not “proceed from” this world, with its lies and violence. (If it did, Jesus said, his followers would have fought to rescue him.) Jesus was telling Pilate, “My politics are very different from yours and Caesar’s.”

His are the divine politics of truth and service, of a “reign” that transforms social relations as well as souls. This implies that the clergy do well not to run for Congress. Their job is different from Caesar’s. On the other hand, we dare not privatize religion, isolating it from politics. Rather, let church leaders stay free enough to remind Caesar that he will have to render to God an account for the fate of the poor and weak.

Countless Christians --like bishops Oscar Romero in El Salvador and Juan Gerardi in Guatemala and Sister Dorothy Stange in Brazil—have suffered death in recent years in defense of the poor in Latin America.

Their examples will help keep the social question on the Church's agenda.

J. Dean Brackley has taught theology at the Universidad Centroamericana in El Salvador, Central America since 1990, where he also serves as pastor in an urban community. Brackley was born in the U.S. in 1946, entered the Jesuit order in 1964 and was ordained in 1976. He received his doctorate in theological ethics at the University of Chicago in 1980. In the 1970s and 1980s, he worked in social ministry and popular education in New York City, before teaching briefly at Fordham University (1989-90). His most recent book is "The Call to Discernment in Troubled Times."

Posted by Dean Brackley on May 12, 2007 1:08 PM

On A Quest For Love

What does it mean to Love

I will proclaim the decree of the LORD :
He said to me, "You are my Son ;
today I have become your Father.

Ask of me,
and I will make the nations your inheritance,
the ends of the earth your possession. (Psalm 2:7-8)

No Sex...

No sex and ignorance

could be the key to a happy and longer life.

Mr Grigoriy Nestor last week celebrated his 116th birthday.

The goatherd from near Kiev in Ukraine, attributes his longevity to two things: No sex, and ignorance.

He said: “I have never had a wife. People who get married just argue all the time, and that’s not good for your health”.

He added: “The less you know, the longer you live. People who know too much always come to a nasty end. Better to stay stupid and not know too much about anything.”

A wise child brings joy to a father; a foolish child brings grief to a mother.

be safe and be happy :)

True Riches

If a believer is poor, he should be proud
because God has made him spiritually rich.
If he is rich, he should be proud because God
has shown him that he is spiritually poor. (James 1:9-10)


It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up,
refused to be called the son of the king of
Egypt's daughter.
He chose to suffer with God's people instead of
enjoying sin for a short time.
He thought it was better to suffer for the Christ
than to have all the treasures of Egypt.
He was looking only for God's reward. (Hebrews 11:24-26)

Keep your lives free from the love of money.
And be satisfied with what you have. (Heb. 13:5)

Do not forget to do good to others.
And share with them what you have.
These are the sacrifices that please God. (Heb. 13:16)

If God is Love, then Who are We?

LIVERPOOL go to ATHENS!

Amazing game.
Liverpool fc totally deserve to be in the final
after winning on penalties 4-1.

Great Day for all Liverpool supporters.