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| Reflections for Your Journey |
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IS IT ALL RIGHT TO BE SPIRITUAL WITHOUT BEING
RELIGIOUS?
When you think of being spiritual rather than religious, you are
probably feeling that you don't want to simply practice a piety
that is antiquated, or that causes you to feel guilty for what
you have and have not done in your life.
But, when you feel spiritual, you will naturally be led to
embrace a practice of piety. Religious piety does not have to be
a straightjacket.
There is an immense amount of freedom in how you give
voice and substance to the spiritual longing you feel within.
- Perhaps your piety will involve simple silence and
centering.
- Perhaps it will be lived out in the way that you show care
and compassion to others.
- Perhaps you will articulate it through the way that you pray
and surrender yourself to the God who loves you with infinite
constancy.
- Perhaps you will manifest it through embracing such
virtues as patience, kindness, truthfulness, or unconditional
love.
Being religious doesn't mean simply surrendering yourself to a
church institution.
Rather, being religious is choosing to live a life that honors
and claims the relationship with God that your soul so deeply
craves.
by Renee Miller
from "Questions of Faith and Doubt:
Is it all
right to be spiritual without being religious?"
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| Doing the Work of Heaven on Earth Today |
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I get rather tired of religion that speaks of heaven. Not
because it?s a bad thing or because I don?t believe in it. I do.
But I get frustrated when heaven is only something in the
future, something that will come some day if we just wait for
it.
The Good News I read tells me that heaven is now.
The kingdom of God has come in Christ and our job as his
disciples is to live in that kingdom even if it is not fully
revealed. ...
Knowing this good news, we recognize that we?re the ones
charged to reveal the grace and mercy of God.
And that doesn?t mean telling them that heaven will free
them some day.
It means ushering heaven into their lives today, working to
eradicate poverty, oppression and despair, striving for justice
and peace among all people.
It means doing the work of heaven on earth today, not in
the dreamy future. ...
by Michael Sullivan
from "Signposts Daily Devotions: July 10, 2006"
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Knowing More:
Gnosticism, Mary Magdalene,
Lost Christianities,
Women in American Religious History |
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Exploring the
Legacy of the Gnostics
What if the so-called Gnostic gospels were true?
The Gnostic writings reveal an expression of faith that is rooted
in a deep and intimate knowing, a lived religion that
mirrors the way women have experienced spirituality for
millennia. ...
Indeed, some of the teachings do run counter to accepted
Christian doctrine, ... But other writings simply present a
different way of expressing faith in God. ...
The Mystery of Mary Magdalene
Of all the people associated with Gnostic history and literature,
none has sparked the level of interest that one particular
woman has?the biblical figure known as Mary Magdalene.
Revered as a saint, maligned as a prostitute, imagined as the
literal bride of Christ, Mary of Magdala stands apart as an
enigmatic individual about whom little is actually known,
despite centuries of scholarly scrutiny and wild conjecture. ...
"Women in American Religious History"
?Who are the women who have been left out of religious
history? The answer is every one,? said [Ann] Braude. ...
?Women are the majority of participants in virtually every large
religious movement in this country?s history starting in the
Puritan era and continuing today ...
Discovering Lost Christianities
An interview with Bart D. Ehrman, author of Lost
Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and Faiths We Never
Knew, which explores the richly varied ways in which
early Christians expressed their faith and the writings that
circulated freely among churches before the canon of Scripture
was established.
What do his discoveries mean with regard to the faith of 21st
century Christians?
Knowing More
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