Your Calling - A Gift for You and Others

I was struck by some of the dialogue in Krista Tippet's interview with the late Irish poet and philosopher John O'Donahue on Speaking of Faith - The Inner Lanscape of Beauty. Here are some notes I took while listening to the program.

We spend so much time at work, and the loneliest scenario is when you find someone who is in the wrong type of work and they do not have the courage to move on to work that is more in line with what is in their heart and demonstrates the strength and gifts within that person. In Greek, beauty is calling. Beauty is not a neutral thing, but something that is actually calling you. This calling is the heart of our creativity. A person following their calling is a gift to those around him. Such a person's work is an expression of their inner gift and provides an incredible service to us all.

The struggles that we have, the suffering, are things that we push against towards manifesting beauty in our lives. There is a tendency to think that growth should be delivered when it is actually struggled towards as we push against the negativity that surrounds us. The negativity is an impetus that spurs us onward. Following our calling can help us to transfigure what has hardened or been wounded within us.

Good wise leadership is leveraging this kind of imagination in the workplace, usually practical imagination, but the real fruit comes when you stand back and see that the spirit and soul dimensions are not luxury items, but are the source for enabling everything to flow and unfold in a new way. The invisible world can be leveraged for spirit and guidance in areas of ourselves that have been forgotten.

Key Questions:

• When is the last time you had a great conversation in which you overheard yourself things that you never knew you knew, or you received something that filled a space within you that was empty?
• What are you reading? Why do we read books? That is where the wisdom is. Go back to the sources and trust your own encounter with them.

The Dangers Before Us

Our Biotech Future by Freeman Dyson

I came across the above article by one of my favorite scientists, Freeman Dyson.
He talks about the approaching possibilities around the domestication of
biotechnology and being able to apply genetic engineering at home (pets,
gardening, etc).

What are the implications here for a Christian who is participating in the redemption of the creation?

Discussion (audio) of Wendell Berry's Life is a Miracle - An Essay Against Modern Superstition.

The Key to Success!

4th Sunday of Pentecost

May 25, 2008

St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church - Washington D.C.

from the sermon given by Father Bishoy Andrawes

after the Gospel Reading for the 4th Sunday of Pentecost

the sermon and handout are available online at orthodoxsermons.org

Light is the Word of God (Holy Bible)

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path
- Psalms 119:105

Walking is practicing (living) the Word of God

The key to success: Walking in the Light = Living the Word of God

This book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
- Joshua 1:8

Therefore, whowever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock.
- Matthew 7:24

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
- Mark 8:36

Why do we have the bible? To live by it EVERY single day of my life.

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
- James 1:22

How to live by God's Word (Walk in the Light)?

1. I have to HEAR the Word of God and KEEP it.
KEEP it . . . take it with you and apply it in your entire life. It doesn't stop in the Church, KEEPing the Word of God with you as you go out into the world is when your real worship really starts.

Jesus . . . said, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word."
- John 14:23

"And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
- Deuteronomy 6:6-9

"While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light." These things jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.
- John 12:36

2. Always understand the " Personal Message " (in every reading)

My relationship with God, my relationship with myself, my relationship with other people.

The message has to be:

• Personal - specific to me
• Practical - can practically be acted upon
• Possible - not too high, step by step, reachable, acheivable
• Provable - can see results, that it is done, that we can be encouraged by its accomplishment

Practical Application:

I will .

If you know these things, blessed (happy) are you if you do them. - John 13:17

Personal Comments:

Personal comments and notes from the sermon are included in italics.

Never start your day without turning the Light on. Start and end each day by turning on the Light.

Decorate your room with scriptures contained herein as a reminder of what must be done and share what I have learned here with others.

The key is to act on what has been heard and read.

If you know these things, blessed are you if you DO them. - John 13:17

Making Hope Happen - Four Principles

Making Hope Happen series @ NeXus Church
My personal notes from Pastor Jeff Park's sermon
March 16, 2008 (evening service)

Frogs and the power of Hope.

Two sets of frogs were tested and the test demonstrates the power of hope. The first set of grogs were placed in a tank of water and forced to swim to stay alive. They swam for about 5 hours before giving up and drowning. The second group of frogs was left to swim until just before they gave up. They were then removed from the tank, fed, cared for and given a chance to rest and recupperate. Then, they were placed again in the tank. They held out for 30 hours before giving up. Holding out on the hope that they would be saved as they had been before. That is the power of HOPE.

The word hope as used in scripture is translated from the greek elpis which means "confident expectation."

For we were saved in this hope (in God),
but hope that is seen is not hope;
for why does one still hope for what he sees?
Romans 8:24

When we begin to hope, we see a destination, then we have hope that enables us to see the PROCESS, the PATH, to get to that destination and we can then begin to take steps to make it happen. This is a living hope in which you can see the destination and the steps you need to take (action). But sometimes, circumstances beyond our control intervene.

Hope Empowers, Failed Hope Deflates

Hope deferred makes the heart sick."
Proverbs 13:12

The Enemy focuses our attention on the negative, stirring in us worry and anxiety, using FEAR to take away our hope . . . "the thing I feared came upon me." Job ??:?? verify

Four Principles for Making Hope Happen

1. Realize hope is a CHOICE, an act of will

Why are you cast down, O my soul, hope in God.
Psalm 42:5

They set their hope in God
and forgot not the works of God.
Psalm 78:7

David told himself to hope in God, to stop worrying and being depressed, to exercise hope in God. David also encouraged all people of God to hope in God and not forget what God has done.

2. Do not base hope in circumstances

Circumstances change . . . . this is akin to building on sand!

You have moved my soul far from peace,
I have forgotten prosperity . . .
My sould still remembers . . .
. . . therefore I have hope.
Lamentations 3:17:21

3. Our Hope is based on God's Character and Presence

I am persuaded that God is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that day.
2 Timothy 1:12

May the eyes of your understanding be enlightened to know the hope of His calling.
Ephesians 1:18

Christ in you, the hope of glory."
Colossians 1:27

Ask God to show you His purpose.

4. Receive the hope of those who care for you

Our hope for you is steadfast
2 Corinthians 1:7

Without counsel, purposes are disappointed.
Proverbs 15:22