{"id":23750,"date":"2024-05-22T11:00:34","date_gmt":"2024-05-22T15:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=23750"},"modified":"2024-05-22T11:11:52","modified_gmt":"2024-05-22T15:11:52","slug":"23750","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=23750","title":{"rendered":"A Living Spirituality"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h1>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Spirit Wind (Casting Crowns) w\/lyrics\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tfQ8b0CdSnk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Wednesday, May 22, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Brian McLaren reflects on the Holy Spirit\u2019s work in the early church and today:&nbsp;<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Following Jesus today has much in common with the original disciples\u2019 experience\u2026. But there is an obvious and major difference between our experience and theirs: they could see Jesus and we can\u2019t. Surprisingly, according to John\u2019s Gospel, that <strong>gives us an advantage. <\/strong>\u201cIt\u2019s better that I go away so the Spirit can come,\u201d Jesus said [John 16:7]. If he were physically present and visible, our focus would be on Christ\u00a0<em>over there, right there, out there\u00a0<\/em>\u2026 but <strong>because of his absence, we discover the Spirit of Christ\u00a0<em>right here, in here, within\u2026.\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the core of Jesus\u2019 life and message, then, was <strong>this good news: the Spirit of God, the Spirit of aliveness, the Wind-breath-fire-cloud-water-wine-dove Spirit who filled Jesus is on the move in our world.<\/strong> And that gives us a choice: do we dig in our heels, clench our fists, and live for our own agenda, or do we let go, let be, and let come \u2026 and so be taken up into the Spirit\u2019s movement? [1]\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Theologian Grace Ji-Sun Kim urges Christians to be open to the Spirit\u2019s life-giving movement:<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Holy Spirit makes us \u201cspiritually\u201d alive. It inspires and strengthens us and gives us aspirations, inspirations, and intuitions. It opens us to new truths and enables us to integrate these truths into our minds and lives\u2026. <strong>We want the Spirit to open us to its presence so we may be transformed. We believe that this openness to God\u2019s transforming presence will make us truly alive. <\/strong>[2]\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We must be guided by the Spirit in all that we do. We work with the movement of the Spirit as wind, light, and breath to change us and empower us to be agents of change.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the Spirit fills our lives, we follow the rhythm of the Spirit. We are guided by the Spirit to become new creatures and become agents of change. We become workers in the Spirit and for the Spirit\u2026.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The love of the Spirit will empower us to work for God: to generate justice, be merciful, and fill the world with God\u2019s love\u2026. As we experience God\u2019s presence, we each contribute to the building of the reign of God here on Earth. It is a task that calls all of us.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We recognize that this Spirit transforms us to become the best that we can be by our love. Love is the force that challenges us to move towards justice and wholeness. [3]&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Brian concludes:<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a world full of big challenges, in a time like ours, <strong>we can\u2019t settle for a heavy and fixed religion. We can\u2019t try to contain the Spirit in a box. We need to experience the mighty rushing wind of Pentecost. We need our hearts to be made incandescent by the Spirit\u2019s fire. We need the living water and new wine Jesus promised, so our hearts can become the home of dovelike peace<\/strong>. [4]\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>==================<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Spinning Our Vices into Virtues<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td>When a man asked Jesus to side with him in a family dispute over inheritance, he flatly refused. Instead, he told the man and the crowd a parable about a rich landowner with an abundant harvest. \u201cWhat shall I do?\u201d the rich man thought to himself. \u201c I have no place to store my crops.\u201d In the story, the man decided to build larger barns to keep his great harvest. Satisfied with his plan the man thought to himself, \u201cI have plenty of grain for many years. I will relax; eat, drink, and be merry.\u201d<br><br>Why did Jesus choose to tell this story to the man wanting his brother to share the inheritance? After all, the man had come to Jesus with a request for justice. He wanted Jesus to settle a family dispute. <strong>Beneath the surface, however, Jesus saw something else at work. <\/strong>He recognized the dangerous sins of greed and covetousness in the man\u2019s heart. The man was <strong>merely using a desire for justice as a cover for his desire for wealth.In this, he is not alone. Many of us mask our sinful intent with a veil of righteousness and even religiosity. Knowing our true intentions are less than noble, we dress them up in a disguise that makes us more acceptable to others and to ourselves.<\/strong> <br><br>Eugene Peterson said it this way, \u201cThere is nothing more common among those of us who hang out in the company of men and women who follow Jesus than using what everyone agrees is a good thing and essential to the kingdom of God to disguise our sin.\u201dWhat does this look like? Well, it can take many forms. <strong>Arrogance and pride are vices most Christians would frown upon, but these can be easily rebranded as \u201ceffective leadership\u201d or \u201ctheological conviction\u201d<\/strong> and applauded by Christians. Doing this flips a sinful vice into a spiritual virtue. Likewise, we can spin gluttony as \u201cself-care,\u201d we can justify abusive leaders as just \u201cpassionate for the mission,\u201d and reframe gossip as a commitment to \u201cexpose the truth.\u201d The examples are endless, but they all show how we will go to extraordinary lengths to hide our sin\u2014especially from ourselves.<br><br>This was Jesus\u2019 issue with the man asking him to intervene in a family dispute. On the surface, he appeared to be concerned with justice and family fairness, but Jesus was able to discern his heart. There he saw greed that even the man himself may not have recognized. Like him, we should present to Jesus our requests. In fact, Jesus commands us to, but <strong>we shouldn\u2019t be surprised when he then exposes layers of motivations, desires, and even sins that we had no idea were within us. Our capacity for self-deception is limitless. Thankfully, so is Jesus\u2019 capacity for grace.<\/strong><br><br>DAILY SCRIPTURE<br><a href=\"https:\/\/withgoddaily.us2.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=87188c8737bc50c1a2fb8e2c9&amp;id=d128dcc5dc&amp;e=f52fc38132\">LUKE 12:13-21\u00a0<br>1 TIMOTHY 6:6-11\u00a0<br>HEBREWS 4:12-13<\/a>WEEKLY PRAYERFrom John Baillie (1886 &#8211; 1960)<br><br>God, let me put right before interest,<br>Let me put others before self,<br>Let me put the things of the spirit before the things of the body.<br>Let me put the attainment of noble ends above the enjoyment of present pleasures.<br>Let me put principle above reputation.<br>Let me put you before all else.<br>Amen.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wednesday, May 22, 2024 Brian McLaren reflects on the Holy Spirit\u2019s work in the early church and today:&nbsp;&nbsp; Following Jesus today has much in common with the original disciples\u2019 experience\u2026. But there is an obvious and major difference between our experience and theirs: they could see Jesus and we can\u2019t. Surprisingly, according to John\u2019s Gospel, [&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\/23750"}],"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=23750"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23755,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23750\/revisions\/23755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}