Tag: faith in real life

balloons-gladness

Stubborn Gladness

Posted on by Michael Rose
I have been working with a group of folks to practice gratitude as a way of life. Just everyday folks walking faith out in everyday life. We are finding it not as easy as it would seem. We discussed how so much of what happens around us could be a nagging and persistent source of…
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Investment Strategy

Posted on by Michael Rose
Once upon a time there was a rich investor, and she had a very successful portfolio of investments.    One day she determined that she would have to go on an extended business trip, and she called three of her managers to her office. She explained to them about the business trip and that she…
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Used by God – Revisited

Posted on by Michael Rose
The great poet T.S. Eliot once wrote: We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time.

 A profound turn of phrase and very true if we live even slightly awake. It is most certainly true with…
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Sun behind all suns – Prayer

Posted on by Michael Rose
Sun behind all suns, Soul behind all souls, ….. Show to us in everything we touch and in everyone we meet the continued assurance of Your presence ‘round us: lest ever we should think you are absent. In all created things You are there. In every friend we have the sunshine of Your presence is shown…
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Can’t Buy the Kingdom of God

Posted on by Michael Rose
There is a virus that seeks to hijack healthy spirituality. In effect, it makes not only our faith very small, but it makes us smaller as people. The difficulty is that this virus masquerades as a form of godliness, and it works it’s toxicity subtlely at first, and before we know it, we are scratching…
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Preparing and Repairing

Posted on by Michael Rose
As we progress through the season of Advent, we continue with our reflection, practices, and preparation in anticipation of the incarnation of love in the Christ child. This week I have been prayerfully considering the ideas of preparing and repairing. The Gospel reading below tells of John the Baptizer, the forerunner of Jesus, and whose task…
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Rugged Hope

Posted on by Michael Rose
  The Psalmist once wrote that hope deferred makes the heart sick. The Old Testament is full of stories of a people who wrestled with hope. In the face of crushing defeats, plagues, exile, and captivity after captivity these people persevered. They managed through generations of tragedy to find the grace to persevere when many…
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Blessed – A Present Reality

Posted on by Michael Rose
Many of us are familiar with the Beatitudes in Matthew 5.  You know, Blessed are the poor.  Blessed are the … . There are two words that translate into “Blessed” in first century Judaism. The first, in Hebrew beraka (and the Greek eulogeo) and this word, isn’t used in the Beatitudes. This word is used in prayer asking…
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