{"id":22638,"date":"2023-07-13T10:39:49","date_gmt":"2023-07-13T14:39:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=22638"},"modified":"2023-07-13T10:43:00","modified_gmt":"2023-07-13T14:43:00","slug":"nothing-is-excluded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=22638","title":{"rendered":"Nothing is Excluded"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-embed-handler wp-block-embed-embed-handler wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How He Loves - David Crowder (Lyrics)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aCBOF21Xx44?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Following the examples of Jesus and Francis of Assisi (1182\u20131226), Richard encourages us to inclusive compassion:<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Francis, like Jesus, refused to exclude things from the garden of grace; there is no exclusionary instinct in either of them\u2014except toward exclusion itself!<\/strong> Francis had a genius for not eliminating the negative, but instead using it, learning from it, and thus incorporating it. <strong>He goes to the edge and the bottom of society, he kisses the leper, he loves the poor. He doesn\u2019t hide from his shadow self but advertises it. So much of our religion has taught us to deny or hide our shadow, which forces us into a fatal split from foundational reality.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just as we grow by ultimately accepting and forgiving our&nbsp;<em>own&nbsp;<\/em>failures, conscious people, like Jesus and Pope Francis, are able to say about&nbsp;<em>others<\/em>, \u201cWho am I to judge?\u201d (Luke 12:14). That\u2019s quite the opposite of religion as exclusion! In my fourteen years as a jail chaplain, I met people who had done things that are wrong, sinful, immoral, or \u201cbad\u201d; <strong>yet when I drew close to a particular life, I found that the human heart is most often either sincere, mistaken, or afraid.<\/strong> From that place, they sought apparent good but not the true good. It made them do some stupid things; <strong>they\u2019re suffering for that now because evil is its own punishment. But when we draw close to it, the human heart has a kind of tenderness, sweetness, and littleness, even in its fragility and fear. <\/strong>As Scottish minister John Watson (1850\u20131907) stated, \u201cBe kind, for everyone is fighting a hard battle.\u201d [1] <strong>Remember, sisters and brothers, Jesus is really saying that we are punished&nbsp;<em>by&nbsp;<\/em>our sins rather than&nbsp;<em>for&nbsp;<\/em>our sins.<\/strong> None of us know the wounds that every human being carries or why they do the things they do. <strong>Human sin, failure, and imperfection are to be wept over and pitied, not something to be abhorred. [2]&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Franciscan spirituality puts a big exclamation point behind Jesus\u2019 words, \u201c<strong>The last will be first and the first will be last\u201d (Matthew 20:16; Luke 13:30) and Paul\u2019s words, \u201cWhen I am weak, then I am strong\u201d (<\/strong>2 Corinthians 12:10).\u202f<em>Upside-downness\u202f<\/em>is at the heart of our message, always prompting us to look more deeply and broadly at things. This opens our eyes to recognize <strong>God\u2019s self-giving at the far edges where most of us cannot or will not see God, such as in other religions, in any we define as outsiders or sinners, and even to the farthest edge of our seeing, toward those who fight us and oppose us\u2014our so-called enemies.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We must grow up to&nbsp;<em>our&nbsp;<\/em>full stature to find the full stature of God (Ephesians 4:13). <strong>Small souls are incapable of knowing a great God, and great souls are never satisfied with a small or stingy God. Once we become fully conscious ourselves, all things will be beautiful. [3]&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>___________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sarah Young Jesus Listens<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My perfect Guide, You are my Shepherd who guides and shields me. You\u2019re the perfect Shepherd, and <strong>Your care for me is wonderfully complete: You love me with endless, unfailing Love. You know everything about me\u2014my weaknesses and limitations, my struggles and sins, my strengths and abilities.<\/strong> So You are able to shepherd me like no other! <strong>Help me walk through this perilous world in trusting dependence on You.<\/strong> I know that You go before me and open up the way, carefully preparing the path I will follow. <strong>I\u2019m counting on You to remove many dangers and obstacles from the road ahead\u2014and to provide all I need for coping with the difficulties that remain. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for You are close beside me.<\/strong> Your nearness comforts and delights me. As I stay in communication with You, I trust You to guide me faithfully through this day\u2014and all my days. For You are my God forever and ever; You will be my Guide even to the end. In Your comforting Name, Jesus, Amen <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PSALM 23:1 AMPC; The Lord is my Shepherd [to feed, guide, and shield me], I shall not lack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>EXODUS 15:13; In your unfailing love you will lead. the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them. to your holy dwelling.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PSALM 23:4 NLT; Even when I walk through the darkest valley,*&nbsp;<strong>I will not be afraid<\/strong>, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PSALM 48:14; For this God is our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even till death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Young, Sarah. Jesus Listens (p. 204). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Following the examples of Jesus and Francis of Assisi (1182\u20131226), Richard encourages us to inclusive compassion:&nbsp; Francis, like Jesus, refused to exclude things from the garden of grace; there is no exclusionary instinct in either of them\u2014except toward exclusion itself! Francis had a genius for not eliminating the negative, but instead using it, learning from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22638"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22638"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22641,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22638\/revisions\/22641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}