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Step out to the edge of your heart’s greatest calling, brave and courageous adventurer. Still your mind, listen deeply within, follow your intuition and take the leap of faith that will always bridge you from fear of the unknown, to the KNOWN and Holy Grail of your life’s loving mission and realized bliss.

It is a sacred challenge to administer justice without vengeance. Jesus calls us to go the extra mile beyond retribution (“an eye for an eye”) and love our enemies. But real love holds the beloved accountable.

Each step of our life’s journey, whether we are aware of it or not, is a series of leaps of faith. Certain moments of our life, seemingly dramatic in nature, serve to punctuate and mark major turning points that define who we believe we are, what we have accomplished, relationships of meaning and opportunities that lead to a particular experience.

On the surface, it seems that death is triumphant.
It appears as though those who conspired to do evil have won.

This coming week we have the opportunity to enact our faith with those fleeing violence and seeking sanctuary in our country. Doing so is how we can actually make Holy Week holy.

sadly in a world dominated by might, money, and power, some people look upon compassion, mercy, gentleness of spirit, inclusiveness and unconditional love as weakness. In a world blighted by terrorism, war and indescribable brutality demonstrated day by day, for example in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan; in a world where many have become indifferent, self righteous and just downright selfish; in a world where Bible passages are taken out of context to uphold racism, sexism, homophobia and unhealthy nationalism: these are the places in which compassion, mercy, gentleness of spirit, inclusiveness and unconditional love should work and speak.

These parables of the lost and found are outrageous. None of us would get very fare in life if we lived by these teachings. It is better to put the welfare of the many above the needs of one. It is pointless to cry over spilt milk. Sometimes its better to cut your losses and move on. The best accountants learn quickly to write off losses that would be too time consuming and costly to recoup. Children need to learn that they can’t always get what they want; that there are consequences to their actions, that dues must be paid, that we need to ask for forgiveness and make amends for our crimes, that rules need to be followed, and laws cannot be broken. That doing the right thing will be rewarded. And yet along comes Jesus, spouting such foolishness that even we who are predisposed to agree with him, even we can sympathize with the self-righteous and wonder how anyone could be expected to live like this.

A close reading of Matthew’s gospel reveals that a literal understanding of Jesus’s story obscures its deep Jewish roots. John Shelby Spong joins Art Remillard to discuss his new book, Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy. Spong was the Episcopal Bishop of Newark before his retirement in 2000, and he is the author of several books to include Why Christianity Must Change or Die and his autobiography Here I Stand.

From Interviews with visionaries from across the globe. Featuring: Gabrielle Roth, Barefoot Doctor, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Marianne, Williamson, Matthew Fox, Steve Biddulph, Dr. Robert Verkerk, Graham Hancock, Satish Kumar, Patrick Holford, Peter-Owens Jones, Mooji Brandon Bays, Byron Katie, Dr. Robert Holden and many others.

“You don’t know when you will die, celebrate tonight, you don’t know when light will dawn, celebrate the storm…”

Courage does not mean fearlessness and is a quality that exists within all beings and can be accessed at any time. We need only to turn inward to face life’s challenges with the courage that is already ours. Feeling anxious or fearful of new outward circumstances is normal for most people, but finding the courage to face those circumstances means recognizing that our divine nature is perfectly equipped and we have the inner resources to handle challenges.

In the brilliant sunshine, in the city street,
Hear the bright hosannas, hear the marching feet;

It seems to be human nature to weigh down our hearts with the past and project our minds into the future. Jesus admonished his listeners to forgive, to love, to be merciful, and to give up worry about the future or the past, long before “living in the moment” was an over-used phrase.
Every true spiritual teacher tells us that the joy we are seeking lies within our hearts now. The past cannot be changed. The future is unknown. Letting go of regrets and worries frees our energy to be focused on the infinite potential of the present moment. To make the choice to live joyfully in this moment is true freedom — the freedom to be who we are.

We were told by religious conservatives if the U.S. legalized such an ungodly act as same-sex marriage, it would not only end the institution of marriage but bring about the demise of civilization. Many also said the righteous hand of God would stop same-sex marriages before they could occur.

There is abundant love within each of us, but even when we try to act as messengers of love in the world, we often mess up the message. Like the old game of telephone, where a message is passed along and completely mixed up by the time it reaches the end of the line, we mix up divine love with our own desires, confusions, and misunderstandings and end up hurting one another. Then we must forgive.
Getting children to say the words, “I forgive you,” is not enough. True forgiveness is inward and will actually remove the hurts we have from our hearts, like pulling weeds in a beautiful garden. Forgiving is not simply a gift we give someone who has wronged us, either; it is a step in our own spiritual growth that will enable our hearts to blossom as intended.

Just in time for Valentines Day, this movie is a classic treat of the senses and the spirit! And with the theme of inclusion and the true teachings of Jesus, this fits right in here at PC.org. Watch it with your sweet ones.

When our identity is defined in outward ways, we are going to feel insecure because outward definitions always change. If we understand our identity as changeless spirit, then it is easier to let go of our attachment to our physical self. Jesus and other spiritual teachers have taught us that a spiritual path and our experiences on that path will lead us to a deeper understanding. It isn’t enough to just read the words or have the beliefs — we need to act in harmony with those beliefs in order to be more aware of who we really are.
The world will tell us that our security depends on money in the bank or the right clothes or an important job, but we know all those things are temporary. True security that lasts forever comes from discovering the reality that we are spiritual beings. With that knowledge, we can face anything, even our fear of death. We can’t force children to feel secure, but we can encourage them to find that truth within themselves and live from that experience. We can also talk about death in a way that is not fearful. Our Western society does much to teach fear of death. We may not know what happens after we die, but if we are secure in the knowledge that our true self does not die, it only grows and evolves, then we need not fear death or any outward physical changes that happen to our human body.

Perseverance is important in any worthwhile endeavor. History is full of examples of great men and women who made tremendous contributions to the world simply because they didn’t quit when things became difficult. Great talent or intelligence doesn’t matter if it is not applied with fortitude and endurance toward a goal.
Obtaining spiritual goals also requires perseverance. To grow in spirit and inner understanding means we keep up our efforts through the difficulties life presents. Persevering through the difficulties is what brings us deeper faith, deeper understanding, and deeper, more lasting joy. That is the fruit of patient endurance that Jesus referred to.