Page 16 …… “A Mystery” a reflection by The Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston, Choctaw
A Mystery
“Listen, let me tell you a mystery. It is when we are the most tired, when we feel we cannot take another step forward, that we are nearest to the strength and hope of God.”
“Why?”
“Because God is not some distant cool intellect observing us as though we were an experiment, but a living being who has shared our struggles, known our pain, felt the loss that steals away hope like leaves caught on an autumn wind.”
“Grace comes to us not from pity, but recognition. It comes from a greater heart who understands and who loves us all the more for the knowing.”
~ The Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston, Choctaw
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Page 17………………. “No Exceptions” – Implications for Interchurch Families
No Exceptions
“We are the children of God. All of us.
No exceptions. No orphans.
Every human being is a child of God.
Every one of us.
God called you into life when you took your first breath.
God has watched over your life every year that you have lived.
And God will hold your life in safe keeping even after you lay it down and walk from this world to the next.
There is no space outside the circle of God’s care.
We are all the beloved of the household of God.
No exceptions. No orphans.
We are the children of God.
We are what love becomes when love is given life.”
~ The Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston, Choctaw
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Page 17………………. Christian Unity ~
“No Exceptions” – Implications for Interchurch Families
I considered the term “No Exceptions” to be significant especially for this time period in American History.
We are all one human family created by God who wished us all to be one, as in “No Exceptions.”
We read in John 17: 21 “so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.” This would mean “No Exceptions” and that God is the one in control.
This highlights the need for Christian Unity and certainly compassion for all others. None of us wish to be excluded. We all want to be invited to the meal, to the table, so that we can share that Holy Experience together.
We are well aware what is written in Matthew 18:20 ESV
“For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
Christ/God is among us when we are gathered together in communities. Do we recognize God’s presence there with us and allow God to be the one who is in charge of what transpires? ~ M.J. Glauber
