Life.

The universe began as forces and energies.
These interacted in swirling galaxies and stars.
And gradually condensed into solar systems and planets.

These planets gave birth to life.
And life gave birth to consciousness and intelligence and imagination.

When we are born we are given the gift of life.

God is traditionally thought of as the author of life.
The breath (nephesh), the wind (ruach), is breathed into Adam to give him life.

We can give thanks to God for this gift of life.

It is not God's will that we should suffer.

We suffer because of the impersonal actions of nature or the ignorant actions of human beings.

But we are never alone.
We are always in relationship with the whole of humanity and the whole of nature.
Everything is interconnected.

Even our thoughts are influenced by the collective unconscious.

God is all of this - energies and forces, life, consciousness, intelligence, imagination, love and more.....

These are gifts.

We can give thanks to God for that.

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Culture.

Because God has being, consciousness, and intelligence He is able to relate to our cultures.

Human beings create societies which in turn create cultures.
These cultures are the highest expression of our intelligence and imagination.

Some religions say that important cultural developments have come from contact with the deity.

At certain points in history it would appear that God intervened through certain individuals to bring about a quantum leap in understanding.

Jesus was one of these individuals.
He brought about a huge change in the way we think about and relate to God.

2000 years later mankind is experiencing a new quantum leap in understanding.

This is the New Paradigm.
It is unfolding in the consciousness of humanity now.

I hope and pray that this change can be achieved without conflict or violence.

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Prayer.

Many Progressive Christians say that they can no longer pray to God because they no longer think of God as a person.

This goes back to our scientific education.
We have been trained to think of the universe out there as atoms and forces and energy.  Therefore when we try to fit God into this picture He becomes an impersonal force or energy.

You cannot pray to an impersonal force or energy.

What we are forgetting is that animals and humans are also part of the universe.
And if God is everything and more then He is also being and consciousness and intelligence.

We can pray to a God that has being and consciousness and intelligence.

God also has a heart.

And it is when we realize this that we are able to love God as He loves us.

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Messages.

What messages are our young people receiving?

Mostly these come from the media - sports and entertainment - and from the music industry.

The messages they receive from sports are: work harder or suffer pain, winning is everything, winner takes all, you've got to be tough, show no weakness, and show no mercy.

The messages from entertainment and music are dark indeed.
They are rife with darkness, death, and evil.
You have to be more ruthless than the wicked.
And you only ever think of yourself.

The rest is advertising.
This pushes the idea that more things will make you happy.
More possessions, better tickets, faster cars, bigger houses.....
This is materialism gone viral.

This is quite apart from the play-hard messages of drugs, alcohol, and sex.

So what awaits them in the future?

I can only say that they will suffer.
For none of these things leads to true happiness.

There is an urgent need for a new message.

That message is that love, consideration, justice, and equality lead to greater happiness.
And that message comes from God.

There is an urgent need for religions to cast aside their messages of fear, hate, punishment, and damnation.

God is not a moral arbiter.
We are not born absolutely sinful.
We are not in need of salvation.

The only salvation we need is from our own culture.

And this is what the Kingdom of God looks like:
Equality, Justice, Consideration, and Love.

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Crying Out!

                        

A baby cries until we give love.

In the schoolyard we cry out for lack of love.

In society we cry out "Have a heart!"

We cry out "Where is God?"

God is in your heart.

Open your heart and know God.

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God's Body.

The universe - the stars and the planets - are God's body.

And just as our bodies function autonomically - i.e. without our conscious intervention - so does the universe function.

But we have a consciousness, a mind, and a heart.

And so does God.

We are trained to think of ourselves as our mind.
Our eyes are located in our head and we are trained to identify with our intelligence through our education.

But God is in our heart.

We cannot love without love.

In the end life is not so much about the state of our mind as the condition of our heart.

Humanism.

Progressive Christians are sometimes labelled as humanists.

This is not really a problem

To be human, to aspire to the highest expression of our humanity, is indistinguishable from spirituality.

The ideals of human beings are our spirituality.

So do not be concerned if you are called a humanist.

It is essentially the same as spirituality.

Cosmic and Personal.

God is both cosmic and personal.

God is everything and everyone.
All the universes and more.

But God is also personal.

Jesus experienced God as the Father.

This is because we cannot relate to impersonal cosmic forces.
We cannot love energy.

But animals and human beings are also part of the cosmos.
We are stardust.

And because God is everything and more God is also consciousness and communication.

So when we are relating to God He takes the human-like form of the Father.

Thus we are able to communicate with God.

And manifest Love.