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When our spiritual journey is authentic, it opens us to a depth of wisdom we are unable to imagine when we take those first steps on the journey to a deeper life. I have learned that our individual spiritual journey is often very similar to those who walked the spiritual path ahead of us. Because of that simple reality, they have much to teach us if we are willing to empty our personal ego and listen to their wisdom with an open mind.

“Wherever you look…see that one unique Presence, indivisible and eternal, is manifested in all the universe. That is because God impregnates all things.” Anandamayi Ma

In the spirit of Janus, I ended the year looking backward at a world in disarray and forward at three faith movements I expect in 2015.

“The nine Beatitudes reflect diverse parts of a harmonious unity which I endlessly reflect and touch each other as we go through our lives. At the very heart of Jesus’s teachings, their practice opens us to compassion. If we are able to place these on our hearts, walk with them on our feet, hold them in our hands, and seal them in our thoughts, we will have more insight along our journey. They will become our walking staff and guide for the arduous times we will face.

As Maggie listens to a story about a little girl who grew up on the prairies, about a ruler who cut a knot in two, about a shepherd who went looking for a lost sheep, about a king who made a foolish wish, and finally, about a giant who lived in a beautiful garden, she discovers that some stories are true because they actually happened. Other stories are true because they tell us something true about a real person, place, or event, even if what they describe did not happen. And some stories are true even if they are completely made up because they tell us something true about our own experiences.

The sheep were always docile—-not unlike my more conservative classmates who seemed intent on doing what was expected of them and following the rules. Compliant and openly accepting of church theology and doctrines, they seemed focused on being perfect Christian’s. Like the sheep from my homesteading days, compliance and obedience seemed to be important values for them. And being right often seemed more important to them than love and compassion.

THEME: The Interplay Between the Inner and Outer Worlds. The Journey to the place where we once began

Out of this house where there is no room
For the little ones that to him belong
(He is weak but he is God)

This is no time for a child to be born,
With the earth betrayed by war & hate
And a comet slashing the sky to warn
That time runs out & the sun burns late.

The outside shed where Jesus lay
Was home to goat and ox;
It was a dirty place to be;
Fit for the shepherds’ flocks;

meditative spiritual music, which puts ancient Sanskrit mantras into atmospheric, contemporary settings. Praise to the source of all things. It is due to you that we attain true happiness on the planes of earth, astral, causal. It is due to your transcendent nature that you are worthy of being worshipped and adored. Ignite us with your all pervading light.

The miracle of life is the true Christmas miracle… indeed each breath is a miracle, each moment when we are able to gaze at the stars and see their brilliance is a miracle. And love…that’s the best miracle of all. This Christmas we wish you moments of love, laughter and light.

When I am struggling, maybe with grief, or trying to sort out something difficult in my life, I often go to a special spot and quietly wait for the new sun to appear. It always makes a significant difference in my being when I do this. My load feels lighter. My fears often dissolve. My grief can be transformed into hope. Over the years I have thought of all kinds of metaphors that may explain this phenomenon. I am reminded that it is a new dawn, or a new day. No matter how painful or dark my situation seems to be, as that sun comes over the horizon everything in my life begins to look and feel different. The new sun symbolizes a new beginning for me. I feel I have gained a new perspective. My internal darkness has dissolved into new light and I am comforted.

When you see something so clearly, you inevitably wonder why it took so long to find the solution. It’s the same with so many things in life. Once you see reality clearly, you can’t believe it took you so long to see it. Suddenly everything becomes clear. When you fall in love, find your passion, realize an injustice, see nature’s beauty, it’s like scales fall off your eyes and everything becomes clear.

Imagine what it must have been like for the early followers of the man Jesus of Nazareth; a peasant, rabbi, radical, and disturber of the peace, executed as a political threat to the Pax Romana. Jesus of Nazareth went to his death insisting that peace through victory was no peace at all. Jesus of Nazareth proclaimed the radical notion that peace, true peace can only be established and maintained through justice.Peace, true peace, is the result of everyone having enough. Distributive justice which ensures that the poor and the powerless, the marginalized and the despised have all they need to live in peace.It was such a radically dangerous notion that the powers that be could not let it live.

I used to think that A Christmas Carol was the story of Scrooge’s metamorphosis. The scene in the movie were Scrooge realizes that it is Christmas morning and that life doesn’t have to be the way it has always been and he does that wonderful dance and sings: “I don’t know anything! I never did know anything all on a Christmas morning!” I always thought of that wonderful dance as the culmination of Scrooge’s metamorphosis, like a butterfly bursting forth from a cocoon. But now I see it for what it really is. It is a dance of resurrection. For Scrooge was dead. Dead and gazing at his own tombstone, when suddenly, and suddenly for me always indicates the work of the Spirit, suddenly, Scrooge realizes that what he is seeing are only the shadows of things that might be. Suddenly, Scrooge knows “that men’s deeds foreshadow certain ends. But if the deeds be departed from surely the ends will change!” Scrooge is born again and is able to declare with confidence, “I’m not the man I was.” And so, the resurrected Scrooge becomes all that God intended him to be.

I want to express my gratitude to you for being part of this effort. The idea that we could put online a serious adult Bible study and contemporary issue subscription service that would attempt to breach the gap between the Christian academy and the Christian pew and to help us all learn how to think theologically in a new way, was once nothing more than a dream. Each of you has helped to turn that dream into a reality.

When I pray to you for help, O God,
Do I hope that you will intervene,
Treating me as powerless as a child
Who can do no more than kick or scream?
As a human being come of age
Help me work with you to earth each dream.