„My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble“

You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom. . . .  And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble. —Matthew 5:10,12, The Message

Today Óscar Romero (1917–1980) will be named a saint by the Catholic Church. As Archbishop of San Salvador for the last four years of his life, Romero was a strong, public voice for the many voiceless and anonymous poor of El Salvador and Latin America. When he preached in the cathedral on Sunday mornings, I’m told that the streets were empty and all the radios where on full volume, to hear truth and sanity in an insane and corrupt world.

Here is a man who suffered with and for those who suffered. His loving heart shines through clearly in his homilies:

The shepherd must be where the suffering is. [1]

My soul is sore when I learn how our people are tortured, when I learn how the rights of those created in the image of God are violated.  [2]

A Gospel that doesn’t take into account the rights of human beings, a Christianity that doesn’t make a positive contribution to the history of the world, is not the authentic doctrine of Christ, but rather simply an instrument of power. We . . . don’t want to be a plaything of the worldly powers, rather we want to be the Church that carries the authentic, courageous Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, even when it might become necessary to die like he did, on a cross. 

https://cac.org/persecuted-for-my-sake-2018-10-14/

Ashtar ~ Urantia

Progressive Folk Metal from Brazil 🙂

The Path of Cosmic Spirituality

„The path of cosmic spirituality is the great quest to evolve an immortal soul that is rich in quality and broad in extent because of our life experiences. But the journey also contributes at each step to the evolution of all other selves and souls, here and throughout the universe, and into an endless future.“ ~ Your Evolving Soul, Byron Belitsos 

UGC 1810, Cosmic Seashell

Beyond Religion to Universal Truth

A presentation of the newly published book „Yeshua the Cosmic Mystic: Beyond Religion to Universal Truth“ (Theodore J. Nottingham)

To be a Christian is to be a traveller

To be a Christian is to be a traveller. Spiritually we are always on the move. We are on a journey through the inward space of the heart, a journey not measured by the hours of our watch or the days of the calendar, for it is a journey out of time into eternity. One of the most ancient names for Christianity is simply „the Way“. „About that time“, it is said in the Acts of the Apostles, „there rose no little stir concerning the Way“ (19:23); Felix, the Roman governor of Caesarea, had „a rather accurate knowledge of the Way“ (24:22). It is a name that emphasizes the practical character of the Christian Faith. Christianity is more than a theory about the universe, more than teachings written down on paper; it is a path along we journey – in the deepest and richest sense, the Way of life. There is only one means of discovering the true nature of Christianity. We must step out upon this path, commit ourselves to this Way of Life, and then we shall begin to see for ourselves. So long as we remain outside, we cannot properly understand.

~ Kallistos Ware

Kallistos Ware: The Orthodox Way

If you say so, I will do it …

“Try it some time. This is the effort that opens the door to the other side, to a new life, to God’s way in our life. If you want to get out of a dead end — spiritual, emotional, intellectual — this is how you do it: Do what God tells you to do even if it makes no sense. Can you manifest enough faith, enough trust in the God revealed by Jesus to say, “If you say so, I will do it”? I will have faith. Peter responds: “Okay, makes no sense but if you say so, I’ll do it.” And what happens? They go out in the middle of the day time and the net gets so full, it starts breaking. There are so many fish that the other boat comes out to help and the two boats start sinking. Now what does this picture tell us? That is the mercy of God! That is the abundance of Grace with which God wants to fill our life. That is what God wants to give you. If Peter had not said “if you say so,” if he had said, “I’m sorry, rabbi. We tried it. We can’t do it,” Jesus would be on his way to find himself another fisherman, another community, another set of people who might just be willing to go out and take the risk. But Peter did say it and the simple fisherman is known to us today as one of the great world transformers. God will take anyone of us and use us for His purposes if we are willing like Peter to say, “Okay, I’ll do it.” That decision opens the door, and makes the impossible possible.”

~ Theodore J. Nottingham, Parable Wisdom: Spiritual Awakening in the Teachings of Jesus

Rupert Sheldrake and Mark Vernon talk about „Vedantic Christianity“

We live in a plural age. Many are open to more than one religious or wisdom tradition. They want to draw on, say, Christian as well as Buddhist practices. Or they seek to speak of vedantic insights as well as theistic ones. Indeed, they may well intuit that the one will illuminate and ignite the other. In this Science Set Free podcast, Rupert Sheldrake and Mark Vernon draw on their experience and reading to explore a variety of religious practices and philosophies. There are pitfalls to avoid. There are questions to ask, not least when religions claim to have exclusive access to truth. But ultimately, there is much in this mix that is enriching and should be embraced.

 

How to be a Vedantic Christian

 

Truth is one; sages call it by various names (Rig Veda)

Swami Prabhavananda, in his pioneering work The Sermon on the Mount According to Vedanta, and various others have translated successfully into. Vedantic terms the mystical Christianity of some of Christ’s words of spiritual instruction. Although there is still much to be done in the way of Vedantic interpretations of these wonderful teachings, already Christ’s saying that “the Kingdom of God is within you” has become a kind of Vedantic spiritual saying. 

~ Vedanta & Christianity (http://americanvedantist.org)

What is Christ Consciousness?

We are just at the beginning of unlocking the potential within our humanity.  This is the deeper meaning and purpose of Christ’s universal wisdom teachings: to become truly human. Not to transcend our humanity, but to inhabit and embody it fully with the Light and awakened presence of the Spirit. A Disciple of Christ is someone who is inspired: in communion with the living Spirit. It is Jesus who said: “I came to bring you life – life in abundance; I came to make your joy complete”

~ The Brother of Christ

https://vimeo.com/integrallife

Into the Deep: Toward Christ-Consciousness

The spiritual meaning of „following“ the Anointed One and the universal teachings embedded in the calling of the disciples.