Shining Spirit

That remarkable man we know as The Apostle Paul, the author of most of the New Testament, was very skilled at communicating what he understood to be the basics of faith in God’s Messiah. One of those basics had to do with “getting right with God,” which, Paul thought, was misunderstood by many people. That’s why the 10th chapter of Romans is so important, because it’s here that Paul makes it all rather clear. It’s not by following “the Law”, rules and regulations, that one comes to know God, but by simply believing in the heart and speaking with the mouth. And, Paul insists, anyone (!) who does that is drawn into the embrace of God’s love.

This morning, as I read Romans 10, my eyes stopped on verses 14 and 15, a sequence of thoughts that can be an outline for each of us. In summary, those verses go like this: how can anyone come to know God and be in relationship with God unless they believe in God, and how can they believe if they have never heard about God, and how can they hear unless someone tells them, and how can anyone tell them unless she or he is motivated to share the Good News? Makes logical sense. And then, for reasons that I can’t explain, I came at the thought from the opposite direction; I read it backwards. When you and I are sensitive to the prompting of the Spirit, we are sometimes in situations where we can say something about the meaning and value of faith in our own lives. The listener hears, maybe for the first time, and then begins to consider his own life in reference to faith. And, in considering his or her own life, that person comes to a point of yes or no, a decision point of “I believe, too.”

It’s simply one hungry person telling another hungry person where to find bread. And Paul was right: following laws, rules, regulations won’t get us closer to God; in fact, law keepers tend to move farther from God because they have substituted obedience to Law for relationship with Love.

Caution: Be very careful about “saved” language. “I am saved. Are you?” That’s Law language and it’s usually a conversation-stopper. What people really want to know is “how do I cope with life everyday?” or “how do I find meaning in these confusing days?” And you have the answer, which is about living now with hope, a sense of meaning, and some level of joy. But the other person won’t know it unless we tell it, and when we tell it, then a seed is planted which will be nurtured by the Spirit.

People have to hear in order to believe in order to commit in order to follow, and they can’t hear unless you and I say it. What a privilege it is to be one hungry person telling another hungry person where to find bread.
“How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!” Someone might be waiting for you today, waiting to hear a word of hope and courage. Be ready.

When taking on a new task, looking for a way to make a difference in life, forming a life philosophy, or deepening your spiritual understanding, consider The Five C’s, an old approach to a new way of living.

Well, maybe not old. In fact, the list fell into my lap about ten minutes ago. Gifts at 4:02 a.m. should not be ignored.

I suspect the life list is a second cousin to an anonymous quotation that got caught in the revolving door of my waking mind. The quote says about faith: “We are not asked to be heroic. It is enough to be consistent.” So, to honor the memory and mission of Jesus,
one must be: Concerned, Courageous, Consistent, Constant and Committed.

Concerned: Feel empathy; put yourself in someone else’s shoes.
Courageous: There are always obstacles to doing good; stand up
Consistent: Don’t check which way the wind is blowing; the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Constant: Seven days a week; twelve months a year; no days off.
Committed: It’s a lifestyle, not a leisure activity.

The Gospel is best delivered and demonstrated by people like you and me. Heroic credentials not required. We qualify.

Press on.

Make time today to consider this —

“In a world that moves fast, breaks often, and talks louder than it listens, one truth has quietly stood the test of time: Character matters.”

“…if there’s one virtue that underpins all the others, it’s not the flashiest or the loudest. It’s not bravery or brilliance. It’s gratitude.”

“…gratitude is not just a personal nicety; it is a civilizational necessity. It is the starting point for moral clarity, human connection, and social resilience. A grateful person becomes a better citizen. A grateful society becomes a more humane one.”

“…without shared virtues (gratitude being primary) human cooperation breaks down. No law, policy or technology can replace trust. And trust, at its core, is built on character. You don’t trust someone who’s merely competent; you trust someone who’s honest, loyal and fair. In modern times, though, virtues have been downgraded. We emphasize skills over ethics, image over substance, and performance over principles.”

What a sad mess a nation would be in if it valued skills without ethics, image more than substance, or performance with no reference to principles. Gratitude is not a thank-you note, or a passing nod; “it is not transactional — it is a disposition.” And it is fundamental in the practice of the Christian faith.

Quoted material taken from the article Gratitude First in OV Style Magazine; written by Kevin Boerup; November 2025

Credit to the ancient philosopher, Plato: “The greatest wealth is to learn to live with little.” But doesn’t that run counter to prevailing theories of economics: “The more you have, the richer you are.” In addressing this very real human tendency, Jesus cautioned people about building bigger barns. And that’s because there is a direct relationship between accumulating and appreciating. Do I really appreciate that box of dishes in the back corner of my self-storage unit? I haven’t opened the box in the last five years, but I’m not ready to let it go. I’ll never use the dishes. I think I got them when Aunt Sarah died, or my cousin Brenda. I think. Anyway, it’s nice to have some “spares” in case I host a large crowd. The last time I hosted a large crowd? Never mind. If I de-accumulated those dishes then I would be obligated to point out that no one needs 37 screwdrivers. Two can play this game.

And “game” it is. Maybe it’s time to appreciate quality instead of quantity. Living with less than the “prescribed need” may seem strange until that day when you hold an item of genuine value and say to yourself: “I never noticed the beauty of this object. Look at the craftsmanship. I really appreciate its presence in my life.”

Maybe a better way of putting it is like this: (Sorry, Plato) “The greatest wealth is to learn to live with enough.” And how much is “enough?” Usually just a little less than I have. Accumulating for the sake of having, possessing, undermines Appreciating. Now about those dishes.

When I was a child, my family taught me to say “Please” and “Thank you.” It was called “being polite.” To say “please” recognized the value of the other person, inherent reality. He or she existed, as I did, and it would be impolite to run roughshod. “Please” was not simply a request for something (Please pass the green beans); it was a way of acknowledgement. “Thank you,” on the other hand, was not an acknowledgement of the other person; it was a statement about myself and how I understand life. To say “please” usually meant a request; to say
“thank you” was a response. Both demonstrated good manners.

Today is Veterans Day. And it is appropriate to say “Please” and “Thank you.” To all who have served the welfare of the nation, the values and principles so urgently important in human community, “Please” know that your efforts are not forgotten. And “Thank You” for demonstrating, not a claim of glory but a commitment to gratitude, for only profound gratitude produces the servant of community and nation. The next time someone says to you: “Thank you for your service” hear that last word clearly. It is an acknowledgement, not only of what you did, but of the deepest values that cause each of us to care for people and nation.

I used to think that the more words I used in my high school essay, the better chance I would have of getting a good grade. Fill up several pages with phrases and commas and exclamation points and that would impress the teacher. Didn’t work. Doesn’t work in sermon preparation, either. Have you ever sat through a seemingly endless sermon and wondered: Is there an end to this thing? So, I’m not surprised to hear Jesus give this specific instruction when he was discussing prayer with his disciples. “When you pray, don’t pour out a flood of empty words, as the Gentiles do. They think that by saying many words they’ll be heard. Don’t be like them.” And then he goes on to demonstrate a very concise, specific prayer for their daily use.

You know, I’d like to offer similar advice to other segments of our population. “A flood of empty words” serves the good of no one. I’m not impressed by an hour of senseless sound. Remember that funny TV commercial where the old woman with a raspy voice used to say: “Where’s the beef?” Where’s the substance? Well, I think for Jesus the substance was in the simplicity. When I learned to prepare a sermon many years ago, I got some good advice: “Tell them what you’re going to tell them. Then tell them. And then tell them what you told them.” Or, there’s the KISS principle: Keep it simple, stupid!

So, at the risk of running on and on, I come to the point. It’s not how many words you use in your prayer. In fact, prayer may not have to do with words at all. Maybe it’s enough to just sit quietly in the presence of God, unlock your heart, and connect. Do we really think God needs to be informed or reminded with “a flood of empty words”? Name the person (Aunt Sarah) or the situation (my doctor’s appointment) or your concern (the world!) but don’t write an essay with lots of commons and phrases. What was that other thing Jesus said in the same prayer conversation? “because your Father knows what you need before you ask.” I once heard a story about….never mind. Too many words.

On this lovely Saturday morning, take time to “catch a passing dream”. Find a few quiet moments and let yourself be carried deeper into the refreshing places of mind and spirit. Imagine. Wonder. Sit in awe. And let these words help you journey to the place of your renewing.

There is a place, just up this trail,
very near the snow-fed stream,
a jagged break in the mountain’s face
where I go to catch a dream.

They ride the currents of a playful wind
that sweeps down from rugged peaks
and there I wait, alert to the chance
that I might hear one speak,

for I am a child of these ancient stones,
birthed by the canyons and trees,
brother and sister to the mountain lion
related to all I see.

This is my home, the source of my strength,
away from life’s hollow schemes,
where I can rest in the mountain’s embrace,
and catch a passing dream.

Make time today to be intentionally in the presence of the sacred. Press on.

In a day and time when we all could use some good advice, some clear guidance about living a full and gracious life, I have a suggestion. The brief outline of good advice is found, in my library, in a slender, black leather book that has been opened and closed so many times that the binding is cracking and about to release the thin pages. Thus, the electricians tape I used to reinforce the spine of the book. It was all I could find at the moment.

Among the many life observations and recommended steps toward a meaningful life, these stand out: how to look at oneself as a valuable human being, what to do with anger (I know a lot of angry people), insights about human relationships, what it means to keep a promise, the dangers of revenge and retribution, how to relate to perceived enemies or hostile people, neighborliness, the development of a spiritual dimension in your life, and the dangers of being a “judgmental” person. Not bad, huh? Touches all the bases: human relationships, economics, politics, spiritual growth, personal behavior. The material is almost like a thought-out, planned outline, a blueprint for the construction of a meaningful life. I highly recommend it, especially since so many self-help books have rolled off the presses and cluttered our bookshelves.

By the way, it is very possible that you have a copy of the book in your home right now. A lot of people do, but too many of us use it for decorative purposes rather than as a life-source reference book. In order to find the information I’ve described, open the book to a section titled “Matthew” and then find the subsections identified as 5 through 7. If you get lost in the process, call me and I’ll walk you through it. You just can’t find better and more helpful insights than right there in the book.

So, read it. Think about it. Try it. Works for me and I bet it will for you, too.

I invite you, in one of your quiet moments, to read your Bible. You do? Good, but pay particular attention to Leviticus 18-19, Deuteronomy 5 and the next few chapters, and what we call The Sermon On The Mount, which is Matthew 5 and what follows there. I know, it’s a lot. But it’s pretty important.

Just before the Hebrew people were to enter the Promised Land, just out of captivity and wandering and now about to set up residence in a new land, Moses, their trusted leader, gathers all the people and gives them a blueprint for how to live, how to behave, and how to relate to their new environment. He touches on almost every aspect of life: money, sexuality, courts and justice, speech, worship, etc. It is a comprehensive outline of societal living. Now move from the Old Testament stories to the New Testament words in Matthew 5 and following. This is the Sermon On The Mount, the famous words of Jesus delivered to the Hebrews of his time. Note that Moses went up on the mountain to get his message for the people and Jesus did the same thing. A mountaintop, sacred experience meant to be delivered to the people waiting at the foot of the mountain, a people who would hear the remarkable words and live them out everyday. They would become a new and decisively different community from that of their new neighbors. They would follow different rules, observe different standards, and look to a very different authority…in their case, God, not a tribal leader or, in the time of Jesus, a reigning Caesar. This would have been astonishing to them and to the local culture into which they were moving. Nothing like this existed before. Of course there would be local leadership to help the new society function, but the basic framework of culture and society was unalterably set on the foundation of this new covenant pronounced by God and delivered by Moses and later Jesus.

I think it is rightly assumed that as we ignore or betray the covenant outline, as we disregard the blueprint in favor of our own personal interpretations or adaptations, the wheels fall off the wagon and we become our own worst enemies. One of the worst things that ever happened in the history of our covenant gift was “personalization.” The shift from “we” to “me” undermined the covenant plan. To say it another way: my “personal” salvation is much more caught up in community than I’ve been taught over the last few centuries. Neither Moses nor Jesus took people one at a time and discussed their “personal” salvation. And when Jesus did address individuals, he always called them back into covenant with God. The message they delivered was “here’s how we live together under ethical, moral, and spiritual guidelines directly from the mind of God.”

It’s about “we.” It’s about each of us living in our minds, our hearts and through our behavior in covenant with each other. Everything Jesus taught emphasized covenant and community…the blueprint of living productively, peacefully, and gratefully as “a people” not simply “as an individual.”

At least, that’s what I think.

When I sit down each morning to listen in the quiet, waiting for something I can send to you as Shining Spirit, I look out over the neighborhood through a second-story window. My desk used to be on the opposite side of the room, which meant I faced a wall. Windows are better than walls. If I time my waiting just right, I can see the world slowly change from darkness to light, faint at first but amazingly reliable. The Santa Catalina mountains, invisible in the darkness, begin to take shape and other landmarks emerge from night’s concealment, as if being born over and over again. Someone, whose name is still lost in the darkness of my early morning mind, said: “We are always on a journey from darkness to light.” And he or she was right. No matter the age or stage of life, darkness to light. Consider: the darkness of the womb to the bright lights in the delivery room; as a child, from not knowing to learning; as a young adult, from uncertainty to self-identity; the light of the newly learned profession, the light of meaningful relationships; faith development, and so it goes. Always moving from darkness of various kinds to the light of revealing, awareness and growth. And then there is the reality of moving, in the totality of a lifetime, from self to God, from the shadows of my world more and more into the Light of wisdom and truth. Life itself is the journey from birth to death, which is little more than darkness to faint light to partial clarity to Brilliance. Maybe the purpose of our days is to be cognizant of life as “journey” and to be gratefully open to all that calls us, shapes us, into human beings. For sure, life as journey is a gift and an opportunity. Being afraid to move from darkness to light, no matter what the context might be; choosing to live in darkness is a thankless response to a precious gift.

So I think this is the point I’m trying to make: this day will move from darkness to light, night to day whether I agree, approve or choose to be part of it. As a gift, it is offered to us as an opportunity to take a few more steps toward light and Light. Today is your chance to walk more fully into the light as one alert, aware, even astonished. At the end of the day, you will not be the same person you were in the early morning darkness. You will have moved toward light and Light. Do it with a grateful heart, helpful hands and a determination born of trust in sacred hope.

So, having said all of that, I will sit here at my window, fingers ready to strike the keys, waiting for the dawn of light over the mountains and the cordial arrival of Insight. When that happens, I will send it along.