One of my favorite songs that we sing is I woke up this morning with my mind standing
on Jesus walking and talking with my mind on Jesus yada yada yada with my mind standing
on Jesus and it's this beautiful testimony is a joyful song in know it's hard to sing
joyfully sometimes because is really in the morning is a really joyful song a person transformed
because their whole being is focused on God and that reminds me also of Isaiah’s words
blessed is the person whose heart is stayed on thee blessed is the person who at all times
their heart is stayed on thee the Christian contemplatives really modeled this really
showed how to do this really tried to do this well but so of other people of other traditions
I
read a book recently autobiography of a man whose life was a mess it was the 60s and the
world was at war as it is yet a bad family life a bad upbringing he had a bad set of
relationships he was a bitter man and all this he ingested and him and came out of him
was bitterness anger hatred rage at wits end he took the advice of friends and traveled
to India to the Himalayas to see a teacher and this teacher and this teacher was phenomenal he was a person of
very few words again it was he had this experience as he sat at his feet and he sensed that this
was the man who felt God's presence to the point where he saw through eyes lenses God's
eyes God's lenses and he loved people being Westerners when say start experiencing this
feeling of love the guy said oh my God for the person I'm experiencing love feels like
and being Westerners they well how can we pay you take money no money I don't what are
we going to do with money take food redistribute food to the villagers and he left behind no
great treatise no foundation no school of thought this was just a teacher that came
and went but they were so taken by them they said well we want to thank God for giving
us the experience of love what can we do they said if you want to love God and serve God’s
people Jesus talking to Peter on the beach so Peter do you love me of course I do I deny
to three times I love you feed my sheep
love serve remember
Huxley has a quote forgive me for reading this quote because this is one of them where
I dare not paraphrase I think he says it so well and so my face is going to be down here
for just a minute this isn't from the Bible it's from a Post-it note in my Bible he says man's obsessive consciousness of an
insistence on being a separate self is the final and most formidable obstacle to the
unitive knowledge of God to be a self is the origin sin and to die to self in feeling will
and intellect is the final and all inclusive virtue now if you prefer your theology from
the Bible turn to first Corinthians where it says anyone united with the Lord becomes
one spirit so this is the prescription not rhetoric about turning to God what does that
mean turn to God rather a challenge logical vinda seek God become so deeply connected
to God so united with God through the practice of loving even if you have to start with the
baby step of first stopping unkind be united with God to the point that you're not an insular
person ignorant of other people ignorant of society and its needs rather you wake up each
new morning to open your eyes to see in every face the face of God and to respond with love
Amen
