' without '

“Come, without cost” how often will we ever get an invitation like that... few if ever, so often there are strings attached, or an agenda set, or stipulations or expectations of something more, or in exchange for reciprocation... and in our Scripture readings today... we find an invitation to come... to share in the greatness and goodness of our God, without exception or expectation, that through Christ, we now have the Holy Spirit to guide is in all truth, so that none would ever be lost for ever, and finally finding there is always enough, that none be without... The first reading today shares with us an invitation, to come participate without cost... take what you need, for there is nothing we can do that will satisfy or come close to repaying for it... ever... and still so many will tell you over and over again, you must do this, or you must do that to be in relationship with God... can you not hear the Scriptures for yourselves, why would you allow anyone to place any cost for your Salvation on you – not our place, not theirs either... here we find one of several everlasting covenants, a covenant of peace. “Incline your ear, and come to ME... listen that you may live”, what an invitation to a loving relationship with God... so who are we willing to listen to? Let no one deceive you... God has entrusted us - you and I - with the very living Word of God, and the Holy Spirit gives each of us understanding in God's time, not ours, are we faithfully seeking out God or others, are we accepting the characteristics of our God's gracious and merciful nature, or are we stopping others from seeking truth, wisdom, understanding that only God can give us... our focus must be on God and Trust in the Truth that God desires to help and is able to do so... So are we speaking the Truth in Christ or are we leading others astray by our words, or deeds. Our conscience either confirms or convicts us, by the power of the Holy Spirit that has been given each of us through Christ's sacrifice on the Cross for each and everyone of us... The Holy Spirit convicts us or it does not – if it does not then allow no one else to either... here is the catch... whatever their complaint - it very well could apply to them... if they (others) see in you something they believe needs correction, most likely it is something in them that needs the work and not you... however, God does indeed send others to help us on our own journey's so always be open and receptive to what others say, but do not let them convict you of something that simply just doesn't apply... the Holy Spirit, will either confirm or convict us, and help guide us in all righteousness... and finally we see that Christ escapes danger, and in doing so, finds opportunity for Ministry, Compassion motivates His Ministry, what motivates us - ourselves or Christ... in 14:15 the place is deserted, a wilderness, a place of liberation in which God feeds the people – in feeding the hungry. Jesus models a task for disciples, then and now... “feed my people” however without Christ many continue to hunger, search and seek for something, anything that will satisfy their hunger, let us never be found without Christ - through Christ, there will always be enough, we will always be supplied with all that is needed to do the work set before us, “Jesus said, they need not go away; you given them something to eat” and so all ate and were filled... just as we gather together each week for our Spiritual nourishment... there are those who do not... share the overflow of what God has enlightened your life with – with others, without, expectations or exceptions... Without Christ, we do nothing from nothing... so come, see and hear for yourself. 'you give them something' let us always be found radiating the Love of Christ in us, so much so that others see and feel the Love of Christ embracing them, drawing them closer and closer to a relationship of Love with and for God and each other... without expectations, or exceptions and just as freely as it has been given us... without cost...
AMEN...
Rev. Terry J. McGuire

' who – ever '

whoever welcomes you – welcomes ME...

so are we preaching peace or divisions, inclusion or exclusion, and of who... the Truth in the Living Word is difficult at best to discern – however the Holy Spirit will help us in finding the true meaning and then show us what it is and how we are to share it with others - in what and how we say – what we say about the Living Word often without ever saying a word...
God has chosen us... “humans” to be in covenant with... to be in relational fellowship with... for all generations... not just yesterday's or not even just today's... but all – ours, theirs – past, present and future generations... God loves us so much as to give us Christ as an example to live by... and a new Covenant... of Grace, over Law... knowing that we can and never would satisfy the letter of the law... and so only in our humiliation can we recognize our Salvation by God... our invitation to “come” participate in the new covenant of Grace... Grace and Sin are to one another as “either” is to “or” - Sin is described as (things in which you are ashamed) the Holy Spirit convicts you of it... not I – and certainly not others... the Spirit will not allow you to understand anything that isn't Truth!!! nothing anyone else says or does can convince you of anything that God hasn't wanted you to hear, see or learn... no one can ever tell you that – something means this or that and you believe it unless the Spirit gives you understanding and that it is Truth the Spirit will never miss-guide you, people can, but the Spirit won't let you accept anything that isn't truth!... I can't convince you something is true anymore than anyone else can... and no amount of proof can ever convince some that just are unwilling to hear the Truth... Sin is anything we allow to separate us from God... the tenision between the two realities remain unresolved, humans by nature – sin, believers by (their new) nature – do not... believers are human but believers also represent a new type of humanity. Paul sets the law and Christ as opposite means: what the law could not do, Christ has done... and still today we see and hear of others who continue to set distinctions or exceptions to full equality for all... injustices against others different from our selves... the homeless, the hungry, the you fill in the blank.... who are you - leaving out... excluding from Worship, Fellowship or Relationships... who is next to you, here, - at the restaurant, - at the dinner table, in your neighborhood... where ever you are, where ever you go... who is the ever we should be reaching out to, we are told that whoever is willing to follow the example Christ has given us, none of them will lose their reward... We are all - to be a Holy Temple, acceptable to God, but who are we acceptable to – God or Man?... and are we living our lives so reflective of the example that has been given us, often without ever saying a word, who-ever – welcomes you welcomes Me; are we truly Welcoming others by the lives we live, even when we think others are not looking? What did they see? Are we Welcoming... are we giving, are we..... showing others that if God can love one such as us, then God truly loves even them; we must also be careful not to neglect the physical needs of others while providing the Spiritual or vise versa... Let us be present, be real, be open to all that God has awaiting us - with welcoming and loving hearts for we all matter to God; If who-ever includes us all, - then shouldn’t we also then matter to each other... Scripture tells us we are to be found out-giving to one another: Are We? May we always give and receive Love, without distinctions, exceptions or fail... amen Rev. Terry J. McGuire

' so I send you '

forgiven & transformed, 'so I send you' – how amazing is that – that God through His mercy and grace has forgiven and transformed each and every single one of us... and then sends us out to reach those who think that God could never love them... Just think... if God can love one such as I... and use one such as I... then what all is possible with a life like yours... in Acts 2:13 we see that as always there is a divided response to the gospel: some people are open and believe, while others close themselves off to the message – still today... others refuse to take God at His word – a new covenant... has been given, we are no longer under the old one, and still so many try to make others live under the rules and regulations set out in the Scriptures, in their own denominational guiding documents... we have been set free... free from all that... why in the world would you let anyone change that for you... when the Holy Spirit rests upon you... you know the Truth... from within... I can't convince you of it, nor can anyone else... however others can make you to feel like your doing something wrong... not fitting in with the crowd, but is it the crowd, we really want to be fitting into... the Spirit gives each of us the ability to reach out to those who will understand and in kind, the Spirit opens the ears and the heart of understanding so that they get what we are saying – in how we speak in our own languages – slang or even contextually... sometimes we can go off on flights of fancy with the Scriptures, more often than not though, we are given the heart of the message, which is spoken in every language... So who understands you... “what does this mean” the Spirit of the Truth either resonates with you or it does not – if not, then why not? We are told “in the last day's God will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh, so if this be true, then it must be our own hardheartedness, our own deaf ears, and unloving hearts for God or each other, and here's the kicker, you can't do one without the other, so it's all in, or its all out... you can't do only what you like, all to often we find ourselves comfortable in our lives, and really don't want any type of disruption – well guess what if your comfortable, then something is wrong... you are not looking around you... you are not truly loving those around you... you are not reaching out to others as Christ did... it wasn't always comfortable for Him to do so... and we see and hear that it truly is the Spirit that enables our Faith... “no one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit” to each of us is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good... each of us are gifted for service, not to ourselves but, for all of us... and certainly not a just for a selected few, but all of us... the various gifts serve the common good, even our Faith is a gift - and so all believers have it... so let none of us boast of anything... for just as we have been blessed with unique gifts of the Spirit... let us also share these gifts with one another... are you sharing what God has given you as your Spiritual Gifts and talents - or are you keeping them to yourself... when we are living in harmony with God and each other, then true peace that only comes from almighty God is ours everlasting... “Peace be with you” Christ said to His disciples and then breathed the Holy Spirit upon them. If the Holy Spirit has come within us – then we too have this same Peace beyond any human understanding... and only the Spirit in them can see the Spirit in you... and 'so send I you' becomes a reality for us – we begin to share our lives openly, lovingly, without distinctions, exceptions or fail... just as we are – we have been sent... “how beautiful the feet of those who are sent” I can't send you nor can any other human entity... we will most certainly go astray if we have not been set by the One and only One who can send us... and then you and I can and will share the journey with one another, in the Everlasting Peace & Unfailing Love of Christ... AMEN... Rev. Terry J. McGuire

have we learned nothing

I think we can take a lesson from some of the uprisings around the world, people are tired of repression, what ever the form, and honestly I don’t blame them, not wanting us to try to dictate to them what they should be doing when we still have so much work to do here on our own soil, our own communities and our own families… until we have secured full and equal rights for everyone – we are born with them, and others keep taking them away by law or regulation… does this not sound like repression to you… I contiue to Pray that we will get it right in our life time… that the dream is still alive, we can all get along, we all can live side by side with one another, we all can truly Love One Another, and truly Love even our-selves…

Stages of Faith & Age

in a recent thread i was following a friend shared a link on Spiritual Stages… “Stages of Faith”   and of course some liked the information – others thought it strange… but we do go through stages, weather we like it or not… adolescence, puberty and adulthood, we also go through Spiritual Stages, of beginning a new relationship with Christ and learning and growing in our faith and then teaching and preaching to others…  this came to mind… in commenting about the stages we do go through from adolescence to adulthood; adulthood is the most difficult – we can become so hard hearted, disappointed, cold uncaring because of our journey to adulthood, we forget to look at everything with the eyes and heart of a child… I wrote this in my journal: when we have finally reached maturity – spiritually and physically – I pray that we always remain with the heart and eyes of a child… always looking and learning with fresh, new, expectant hearts of joy – not with hearts and eyes of stone. disappointment – un willing – un caring, very sad, we long to be mature, and forget to be a child… 

going alone

often we can find ourselves feeling like we are going it alone… walking through this world all by ourselves, even with others in tow, our journey’s can seem very lonely… the good news – we are never truly alone… “for I Am with you always”… how comforting especially when we find ourselves feeling otherwise. there are however times that we must journey alone, to seek out new adventures in our lives, search our innermost selves, reflect on the journey we take. sometimes we are alone because we have chosen to be alone – other times because we have run everyone else off, and sometimes just because we fail to listen to that Still Small Voice… and it’s the only way to quite us… Ultimately we are never truly alone… even if to the outside world it may appear that way… we are all meant to journey with each other – in fellowship with one another – sharing ourselves – even in some of the most painful moments of our lives… all to often we only want to share the good stuff, however we are called to cry with each other as well…  the next time you feel as though you are going it alone… stop and still yourself, now are you really alone? May your journey never leave you feeling like you are going it alone…  Terry McGuire

just before dawn

on my morning walk this morning – it started to rain, so I turned and headed back to the house, just then it stopped, so I turned and continued to finish my walk, a different route than the everyday path I have been taking each and every morning for the past 2 weeks… another something I will have to share sometime later not today…. I love my morning walks, time to Pray – reflect on the thoughts and inspirations of the Spirit… This morning I noticed that the road while smooth enough to walk on has many cracks in it, making for some very unusual space and shapes in them. Got me thinking, funny how a cracked blacktop in the middle of darkness with casts of street lights can make one see a road so different… but none the less for today it did… here is what I saw – some of the shapes were small, some very large, some shaped very oddly and some as square as if cut by hand, hummm – anyway, within these shapes I began to see that sometimes our life takes us on different paths – and sometimes these situations last only a second the small shape that only the foot can step into, and others that last longer taking more steps to clear, some shapes make us go to the left or right to avoid a fall and others to keep us on track for finishing the walk, as the street turned to go on with my walk – I noticed that life also takes turns for us to take, sometimes we want a smooth uneventful walk, but sometimes it is the most difficult ones that help us to be able to help others… sometimes we are in a situation or circumstance that last only moments and other times we find them lasting years… I Pray what ever the walk, let us always walk mindful of each other & share the journey.