{"id":16993,"date":"2018-07-09T09:27:22","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T13:27:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=16993"},"modified":"2018-07-09T09:56:57","modified_gmt":"2018-07-09T13:56:57","slug":"16993","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=16993","title":{"rendered":"Connecting Inner and Outer Worlds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ow4OfW4DP9s\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Connecting Inner and Outer Worlds<br \/>\nSunday, July 8, 2018<\/p>\n<p>Go down to the palace of the king and declare, \u201cDo what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.\u201d \u2014Jeremiah 22:1, 3<\/p>\n<p>The primary role of religion and spirituality is to reconnect, the very meaning of the Latin word religio. The Greek word polis\u2014which led to the word politics\u2014simply means city or public forum, where people come together. Why have religion and politics become so antagonistic when they have similar goals?<\/p>\n<p>The Hebrew prophets and Jesus clearly modeled engagement with both faith and the public forum. However, unlike its Jewish forbears, in its first two thousand years Christianity has kept its morality mostly private, personal, and heaven-bound with very few direct implications for our collective economic, social, or political life. Politics and religion remained in two different realms, unless religion was uniting with empires. Christianity looked to Rome and Constantinople for imperial protection; little did we realize the price we would eventually pay for such a compromise with Gospel values.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSeparation of church and state\u201d is important to safeguard freedom of religion and ensure that governments are not dominated by a single religion\u2019s interests. But that does not mean people of faith should not participate in politics. Today many believe that \u201cinner work\u201d is the purview of spirituality and that we should leave the \u201couter world\u201d to politicians, scientists, businesses, and workers. Most of the negative feedback I receive is \u201cDon\u2019t get political!\u201d Yet how can I read the Bible and stay out of politics? Again and again (approximately 2,000 times!) Scripture calls for justice for the poor. The Gospel is rather \u201csocialist\u201d in its emphasis on sharing resources and caring for those in need.<\/p>\n<p>Like it or not, politics (civic engagement) is one of our primary means of addressing poverty and other justice issues. I am not talking about partisan politics here, but simply connecting the inner world with the outer world. As a result of our dualistic thinking, the word \u201cpartisan\u201d has come to be synonymous with the word \u201cpolitical.\u201d And so many church-goers do not want to hear the Gospel preached\u2014as it might sound political!<\/p>\n<p>To be a faith leader is to connect the inner and outer worlds. In the United States\u2019 not-so-distant-past, Christians were at the forefront of political and justice movements to abolish slavery, support women\u2019s suffrage, protect civil rights, and establish and maintain Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Today I am encouraged to see many of my Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist brothers and sisters actively engaged with the political realm, speaking truth to power, and holding our political leaders accountable. Being political is a basic civic, human, and spiritual duty!<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;<\/p>\n<p>Contemplation in Action<br \/>\nMonday, July 9, 2018<\/p>\n<p>What is the relation of [contemplation] to action? Simply this. He [or she] who attempts to act and do things for others or for the world without deepening his own self-understanding, freedom, integrity and capacity to love will not have anything to give others. He will communicate to them nothing but the contagion of his own obsessions, his aggressiveness, his ego-centered ambitions, his delusions about ends and means, his doctrinaire prejudices and ideas. There is nothing more tragic in the modern world than the misuse of power and action. . . . \u2014Thomas Merton [1]<\/p>\n<p>There is no such thing as being non-political. Everything we say or do either affirms or critiques the status quo. To say nothing is to say something: The status quo\u2014even if it is massively unjust and deceitful\u2014is apparently okay. The silence of many Christians is used to legitimize the United States\u2019 obsession with weapons, its war against the poor, Israel\u2019s clear abuse of Palestine, politicians who are \u201cpro-life\u201d on the issue of abortion but almost nothing else, the de facto slavery of mass incarceration, and on and on.<\/p>\n<p>As humans we can\u2019t help but be political whether we recognize it or not\u2014so let\u2019s learn how to participate in the public forum as God\u2019s image and likeness! Over the years, I\u2019ve met many social activists who were advocating for crucial justice issues, but they were still largely living out of their false self with the need to win and look good\u2014and defeat \u201cthe enemy.\u201d They might have the answer, but they are not themselves the answer. In fact, they are part of the problem because they still trust in power over love.<\/p>\n<p>Jesus and other great spiritual teachers first emphasize a primal transformation of consciousness. Untransformed liberals often lack the ability to actually sacrifice the self or build any spiritual foundation beyond the next victory. The Left usually has the gift of critical thinking, but that very mind is often too negative and arrogant. It doesn\u2019t know how to collaborate in a non-partisan way. In its idealism, the Left often becomes ideological, dualistic, individualistic\u2014problem-solvers more than long-term rebuilders. Liberals are seldom faithful to any lasting community. Thus, they become something other than Love.<\/p>\n<p>The Right, on the other hand, idolizes anything that preserves its own privilege and status quo, but often neglects to ask, \u201cIs this bearing any fruit for others?\u201d Conservatives confuse their private order with universal order, confusing order itself with the Reign of God (this despite both Jesus\u2019 and Paul\u2019s clear dismissal of the law as salvific). Nor do they see that the law and order they invoke is usually highly self-serving. The conservative gods are normally personal security and well-being. The Right\u2014even most conservative \u201cChristians\u201d\u2014considers calls to universal love na\u00efve, ridiculous, and even dangerous.<\/p>\n<p>Liberals, however, tend to have high and good ideals, but tend not to rely upon any collective or truly spiritual foundation to make these ideals believable or lasting. Their god is often individual freedom and choice more than real love in action. Faithfulness is not high on their list of values. They do not commit to much of anything. Both groups avoid love in different ways. In the end, both sides are highly individualistic. Rare is the Christian who draws upon the common good (Tradition) and also serves the common good (Love in action).<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;-<\/p>\n<p>JULY 4  WHEN YOU WORSHIP ME in spirit and truth, you join with choirs of angels who are continually before My throne. Though you cannot hear their voices, your praise and thanksgiving are distinctly audible in heaven. Your petitions are also heard, but it is your gratitude that clears the way to My Heart. With the way between us wide open, My blessings fall upon you in rich abundance. The greatest blessing is nearness to Me\u2014abundant Joy and Peace in My Presence. Practice praising and thanking Me continually throughout this day. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cYet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.\u201d \u2014JOHN 4:23\u201324 <\/p>\n<p>Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. \u2014COLOSSIANS 3:16 <\/p>\n<p>Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. \u2014PSALM 100:4<\/p>\n<p>Young, Sarah. Jesus Calling <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Connecting Inner and Outer Worlds Sunday, July 8, 2018 Go down to the palace of the king and declare, \u201cDo what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16993"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16993"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16997,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16993\/revisions\/16997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}