All Encompassing Love

I've had this blog welling up inside of me for quite some time now. I've started it several times, but it comes out angry or very judgmental. With a title like I've chosen some how the mood seemed to bog down the message I want to convey.
Usually I start these blogs when I get that over whelming sense of wanting to vomit after listening to a pastor preach against "sin" or a FaceBook friend condemn another persons lifestyle. Usually I'd get so pissed off with "righteous anger" that I just became the same bigoted person they were, only my bigotry was focused on fellow christians.
I once told a friend "How high does my pedestal have to be if I'm looking down on someone for being on their own pedestal."
It goes with out saying that we should all take my good pal Jesus' advice about getting planks out of ourselves before we help someone else with their splinter.

What really calmed me down and got me to climb down from my perch was some place I thought I'd never hear God. A real working Catholic Church.
To preface this, I am a firm believer God talks EVERYWHERE. He's spoken to me through Niki Minaj, through Buddhist Temples, and through fellow Christians. While I believe Catholics and Christians are the same, the icon driven form of worship just wasn't my style. Yet, when visiting friends in Ireland I wanted to stop in and look over some architecture at an old church.
When having a look around I noticed they had statues up of Jesus earthly family; His grandmother, his mother and Joseph his father/step-father. Beside each of these statues were prayers.
When reading them it was the prayer to Joseph that spoke to me deepest.
"O St. Joseph, who opened your heart to the earthly body of Jesus Christ, open my heart to love others as you loved our Savior." Reading these words brought home that righteous anger I'd felt every time before only it didn't make me angry. It made me squish my chin up and swallow back tears. It made me feel love.

When I think of the birth of Jesus I don't usually think about Joseph. I think about Mary, I think about Jesus, I think about shepherds and wise men, and I think about wether or not the Roman government would really let their pawn Harrod kill a bunch a kids for a prophetic vendetta. (but that's another blog for another time) The person I don't think about is Jospeh.
Joseph as most of you probably know was engaged to Mary. Sweet young virginal Mary, who got knocked up out of wedlock. Joseph like any well behaved man of the time peaced out on her and broke off their engagement. However thanks to some divine intervention Joseph and Mary made up just short of appearing on Jerry Springer. Usually at Christmas that's where Joseph's story ends. In the Bible he also doesn't get much more face time than that. But I want to really talk about Joseph for a moment. I'm sure Joseph's struggles didn't end when that Angel told him the kid was to be the Messiah. When little baby Jesus was crying in the middle of the night and it was Joseph's turn to get up with him I'm sure he resented him just a little bit. When Jesus broke one of Joseph's tools trying to help he probably wanted to explode at him. When Jesus took off to teach at the synagog and Joseph and Mary looked all day for him fearing the worst I'm sure Joseph wished that some other couple would have been God's choice. But despite humanity Joseph overcame and showed Jesus compassion and love as his son. Joseph broke with every tradition and concept that he'd been taught so that he could love Jesus. When we look at the book of Matthew, or Luke the Angel of God never told Joseph he had to love Jesus, he just told him he had to go back to Mary.  The fact of the matter is God's law prior to the Angel talking to Joseph is that he should drag Mary before the whole town and stone her to death for adultery.

Joseph broke social norms in the name of love. He broke what was interpreted as God's law in the name of love.
Let that sink in.

A lot of times I hear people using the Bible (as the inspired word of God) to create an Us versus Them situation.
"Our God, won't allow evil to come on us. " So what you're saying is God will only protect you from evil if you pay your tithes, go to church and don't do anything your pastor wouldn't approve of?
"Our God, will punish the homosexuals/adulters/democrats/abortionists/ect." So, Once you've stepped outside of what traditional Church thinks God now hates you?
"Your god may tell you to have peace but OUR GOD WILL HAVE JUSTICE!" So, God only justifies people who have never tried another religion?

If you were to read the Bible you'd find each of those statements to in error. "Our" God came to earth and never punished any one who sinned. You can find that detailed in Matthew through John, usually in the letters in red. Jesus only ever admonished any one who judged others. His ultimate goal was to do just what is earthly and heavenly fathers taught him. To throw out a social concept and to just love people.

If you take anything away from this blog I hope it's an idea of just how much God wants us to love each other. We're not called to tell people they're wrong or they're living in sin. We're called to tell people we love them, and Jesus loves them too.

Perfect Love Casts Out All Fear

The scripture perfect love casts out all fear was burned into my brain when I woke up this morning. 
I knew there had to be a deeper meaning, but I didn't have time to look it up then. 
Pushing it back from the forefront of my head I went on to work where being the first of the week we had our staff meeting as usual. This always concludes with a prayer said by my boss. This morning at the end almost randomly he added in "God we know that your perfect love casts out all fear, Amen." 
My senses suddenly flooded back to that scripture from 1 John this morning. 

When I got back to my desk I looked it up, and found each of the words in the original greek. I wanted know the meaning of these words outside of the christian realm, what did they mean to the people John was writing to. 

The word perfect was Telios; It means grown up, mature and not swayed by childish thoughts or emotions. 
Love was Agape; Love born from a place beyond sexuality, a spiritual love that uplifts one another. 
Casts was the word exo/exw; It is a prefex added to the beginning of words to mean that it is casting that thing out side of the known boarders. 
It was added to Ballo/Ballw which means out side of the real of the known.
all was the word O meaning all, everything all forms.
and Phobos I thought was very interesting in it's self. Phobos isn't just a word meaning fear, Phobos was in fact in Greek religion the god of fear. He was born of love (the goddess Aphrodite) and war (the god Ares) and his temple was built out of skulls of beheaded enemies. (or so they say) 
Phobos was a concept that litteraly drove fear into the people associated with it. He was evoked when making war on some one, or when cursing them. 
knowing this it became a bit clearer to me what John was saying when he wrote this to the greeks.

Perfect love, a mature and unswaying love that has no strings attatched the physical banishes beyond all knowledge the concept of fear.

When we; knowing one another's faults love each other with strings no strings attatched we banish the things about another person that make us uncomfortable or uneasy. By loving each other with no strings attached despite others faults we break curses and we end war between our selves. 

Let's Play Pretend

Recently a guy I know has been pursuing me... blatantly.
He's a smart, funny, and has a great sense of style. We have the same humor, we're into the same things and I can see my self becoming very good friends with him. He's like the male me.
But, because he's the first guy I've ever really connected with that is pursuing me he puts these thoughts in to my head.
"What if he's it"
"What if he's not?"
"He's not this, or that"
"But he is that and this"

The truth is as far as I know he's not a man of God. He's a leader, he's a articulate out going fire starter, but he lacks the flint that is the groundedness of Christ.

I saw this tonight video tonight, and it made me re-realize something. I'm not looking for almost, I'm looking all together of Christ.


I don't know if he's it, or not, and I'm going to continue our friendship, but I'm not worried about it any more. God is the author of time, so waiting isn't really a big deal. Because no mater how long or short I have to wait, it's going to be right on time.

I think I'm falling in Love

Every day on my way to class I pass this house. This gorgeous Spanish house with all the charm and grace of a duchess and all the mystique and magic of C.S. Lewis's Narnian wardrobe.

The front door's window is knocked out, all the windows are cloudy. The garden is over run and from what I hear the second bathroom is on the roof, has no ceiling and no way to drain water off the floor when it rains.

It cost 550,000 Euros. That's roughly 825,000 US dollars. That's right Eight hundred, twenty five, THOUSAND dollars.

I want this house.