Christian Universalism- The Beautiful Heresy

The Lord's Prayer- like you've never heard it

This morning we were discussing why it is that G-d seems so distant to many of us.  One of the quotes that popped up on my "Quote of the Day" was:

They say that God is everywhere, and yet we always think of Him as somewhat of a recluse.
  - Emily Dickinson

One of the guys on the list asked why is we think of G-d that way and what immediately popped into my mind was the opening line of the Lord's Prayer: 

Our Father who are in Heaven

In heaven... out there somewhere, not here.  This is the G-d I was taught and the way I was taught the Lord's Prayer.  But, Marcus Borg rewrote "The Prayer of Jesus", as he calls it for the study guide to The Heart of Christianity (one of my all time favorite books that I cannot recommend highly enough). 

Marcus wrote it this way:

Eternal Spirit,
Earth-maker, Pain-Bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be.
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven:

The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by all peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.

With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.

For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and forever.

Amen.

Now that is a prayer I can relate to. But, I was blown away even more by these two links to the Lord's prayer translated from the Aramaic that Yehsua spoke.  Of course, we cannot know His exact words since there wasn't a stenographer present.  But, any of these versions just make the King James seem flat and dead, IMO. 

There's more! 

This page has several translations. Take a few minutes to soak them in. The Lord's Prayer from the Aramaic

Dremel your dog's nails- why didn't somebody tell me about this?

I was watching TV the other day and saw an ad again for a device called Peticure. Like all good made for TV products, they told me about my problem and how terrible and unbearable it was and then tried to sell me on their solution.  The difference in this case was I actually hate clipping my dog's toe nails.  I'm not really a squeamish person. But, the thought of clipping a dog's nails actually give me chills.  Peticure was supposed to be the answer to that problem.  So, I checked them out.  Along the way, I made an amazing discovery, something I wish someone had told me years ago.

Political Polls

Today I had the pleasure of being asked to take part in a  political "survey".   I sometimes wonder where these numbers come from.  Now I have a little better insight.  Taking this survey was actually kind of fun.  I was tempted to lecture the pollster on how leading the questions were (and how misleading the results would be). But, I realized he was just a guy doing his job.

Why I do not spell out God

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time surely you've noticed I use G-d instead of God. It's not because I'm superstitious nor do I think it blasphemous to say or type God since it is not God's name anyway.  I'm not sure if I've explained this before.  But, I'll try to explain it now.

Emails Across the Divide- Part IV (finale)

This is part IV of a series.   Part I is here.  Annie and I are very good friends...  Recently we had a great conversation about race and our perspective on the whole Reverend Wright thing.  Barack Obama encouraged a national conversation on race.  I've been blessed with the opportunity to have a few of these across the divide recently.  This last part is pretty long.  I'm not sure if anyone's reading these.  So, I just decided to put the rest up here, in case you are following along.  Also, there's a PDF of the whole conversation.  You can link to at the bottom of this post to print it out and read later (I hate reading very long things on-line)

Annie has given me permission to share our conversation with  you. I've broken it up into four parts each title "Emails Across the Divide".  Annie is a young white woman in her early 50s.  She's not your "typical" white woman in that she lives in a pretty diverse family and has spent a lot of time in the inner city.  Annie and I have known each other for a few years now.  She's the best friend I have that I've never met (with the exception of my brother Brian.

Emails Across the Divide Part III

This is part III of a series.   Part I is here.  Annie and I are very good friends...  Recently we had a great conversation about race and our perspective on the whole Reverend Wright thing.  Barack Obama encouraged a national conversation on race.  I've been blessed with the opportunity to have a few of these across the divide recently.

Annie has given me permission to share our conversation with  you. I'll do it in a series of posts.  I'll probably break it up into five or six.  Annie is a young white woman in her early 50s.  She's not your "typical" white woman in that she lives in a pretty diverse family and has spent a lot of time in the inner city.  Annie and I have known each other for a few years now.  She's the best friend I have that I've never met (with the exception of my brother Brian.

Emails Across the Divide- Part II

This is part II of a series.   Part I is here.  Annie and I are very good friends...  Recently we had a great conversation about race and our perspective on the whole Reverend Wright thing.  Barack Obama encouraged a national conversation on race.  I've been blessed with the opportunity to have a few of these across the divide recently.

Annie has given me permission to share our conversation with  you. I'll do it in a series of posts.  I'll probably break it up into five or six.  Annie is a young white woman in her early 50s.  She's not your "typical" white woman in that she lives in a pretty diverse family and has spent a lot of time in the inner city.  Annie and I have known each other for a few years now.  She's the best friend I have that I've never met (with the exception of my brother Brian.

Emails Across the Divide- Part I

Annie and I are very good friends...  Recently we had a great conversation about race and our perspective on the whole Reverend Wright thing.  Barack Obama encouraged a national conversation on race.  I've been blessed with the opportunity to have a few of these across the divide recently.

Annie has given me permission to share our conversation with  you.  I'll do it in a series of posts.  I'll probably break it up into five or six.  Annie is a young white woman in her early 50s.  She's not your "typical" white woman in that she lives in a pretty diverse family and has spent a lot of time in the inner city.  Annie and I have known each other for a few years now.  She's the best friend I have that I've never met (with the exception of my brother Brian.

Why I Go to the Church I Go To

What a difference a few days can make.  According to Christian tradition, on Good Friday, things looked hopeless and on Easter Sunday, we have new life and hope springing eternal.  The last few days or couple of weeks has been that in a microcosm for me.  A few days ago my attention was turned to things that were making me frustrated, disappointed and yes even angry.  But, over the weekend, I saw some things that have renewed my hope, lifted my spirits and made me proud of my pastor, my church, my denomination, my country and even a little prouder of my wife and kids (if that's possible).  I posted  a poll on my blog, asking why you attend the church you attend.  One of the things I explore in this post is why I attend the one I go to.

Barack Obama's Church

I apologize in advance to anyone here only to read about Universalism.  There is a breaking news story that I feel I have to comment on.  That concerns the videotapes recently release of Barack Obama's former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright.  To those of you sick of hearing me talk about Barack, you may be excused now.  But, before you go, this is more than about just Barack Obama.  This story exposes some things we don't like to talk about and I feel I have to speak out about it.  In fact, several people have asked me to blog about it. So, at the risk of alienating some of you, I am going to proceed with the post.