Easter.

In the Northern Hemisphere Easter is at the Spring Equinox.

But in the Southern Hemisphere Easter is Autumnal.

Reflecting Jesus words:

"'Verily I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains a single grain; but if it dies it bears much fruit,'"  John 12:24 (NRSV)

[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]

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Great Boomers.

The Boomer Generation has been much maligned because of their political views and activism.

But many of this generation were ground-breakers and trail-blazers in their fields.

The Boomers actually consist of two groups:

The Proto-Boomers (born 1937 - 1945) whose original ideas and creativity began a revolution.

And the Baby-Boomers (born 1946 - 1959) who put those ideas into practice.

Below are two lists of people who were prominent in each group and the fields in which they excelled.

The Proto-Boomers:

Jane Fonda 1937 (Acting/Activism)

David Hockney 1937 (Art)

Jack Nicholson 1937 (Acting)

Vanessa Redgrave 1937 (Acting/Activism)

Tom Stoppard 1937 (Playwright)

Margaret Atwood 1939 (Novelist)

Fritjof Capra 1939 (Science Theorist)

John Cleese 1939 (Comedy)

David Frost 1939 (TV Journalist)

Germaine Greer 1939 (Feminism)

Sheamus Heaney 1939 (Poetry)

Michael Kirby 1939 (Law/Gay Activism) 

Ian McKellen 1939 (Acting/Gay Activism)

Lily Tomlin 1939 (Comedy/Gay Activism)

Bret Whiteley 1939 (Art)

Matthew Fox 1940 (Religion)

John Lewis 1940 (Civil Rights)

John Lennon 1940 (Music)

Al Pacino 1940 (Acting)

Nancy Pelosi 1940 (Politics)

Joan Baez 1941 (Music)

Bernado Bertolucci 1941 (Cinema)

David Crosby 1941 (Music)

Bob Dylan 1941 (Music)

Paul Simon 1941 (Music)

Joe Biden 1942 (Politics)

Billy Connolly 1942 (Comedy/Acting)

Aretha Franklin 1942 (Music)

Stephen Hawking 1942 (Science)

Jimi Hendrix 1942 (Music)

Carol King 1942 (Music)

George Lucas 1942 (Cinema)

Susan Ryan 1942 (Women's Rights)

Martin Scorcese 1942 (Cinema)

Rupert Sheldrake 1942 (Biology)

Barbara Streisand 1942 (Music)

Peter Carey 1943 (Literature)

Mick Jagger 1943 (Music)

Joni Mitchell 1943 (Music)

Richard Rohr 1943 (Religion)

Karen Armstrong 1944 (Religion)

Bob Brown 1944 (Politics/Gay Rights)

Ray Davies 1944 (Music) 

Angela Davis 1944 (Civil Rights)

Alice Walker 1944 (Literature)

Mia Farrow 1945 (Acting)

Bette Midler 1945 (Music/Comedy)

Baby-Boomers:

Benny Andersson 1946 (Music)

Bill Clinton 1946 (Politics)

Liz Green 1946 (Astrology)

Liza Minnelli 1946 (Music/Acting)

Steven Spielberg 1946 (Cinema)

David Bowie 1947 (Music/Acting)

Hillary Clinton 1947 (Politics)

Elton John 1947 (Music)

Jenny Kee 1947 (Fashion)

Steven King 1947 (Literature)

Salman Rushdie 1947 (Literature)

Arnold Schwarzenegger 1947 (Body-Building/Acting/Politics)

King Charles III 1948 (Royalty/Climate Activism)

Cheryl Kernot 1948 (Politics)

Andrew Lloyd Webber 1948 (Music/Theater)

Ian McKewan 1948 (Literature)

Caitlyn Jenner 1949 (Transgender Activism)

Meryl Streep 1949 (Acting)

Richard Branson 1950 (Music/Business)

Graeme Murphy 1950 (Dance)

Richard Tarnas 1950 (Astrology/Cultural History)

Bob Geldof 1951 (Music/Activism)

Robyn Williams 1951 (Comedy/Acting)

Peter Tatchell 1952 (Gay Activism)

Tony Blair 1953 (Politics)

Hugo Chavez 1954 (Politics)

Louis de Bernieres 1954 (Literature)

Alan Hollinghurst 1954 (Gay Literature)

Angela Merkel 1954 (Politics)

Oprah Winfrey 1954 (TV Journalist)

Bill Gates 1955 (Computers/Business)

Steve Jobs 1955 (Computers.Business)

Colm Toibin 1955 (Literature)

Ellen de Generes 1958 (TV/Gay Activism)

So it is evident that the Boomers have made a considerable contribution to the evolution and enlightenment of humanity.

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Winning.

Winning is the way of the world.

And winning at all costs is evil.

That is why some sports men and women sell their souls to the devil.

They believe that the devil can grant them worldly success and fame.

And so they addict us to their sports.

And they generate million dollar incomes from our obsession.

But their philosophy is brutal.

They write themselves off when they celebrate victory.

And the punish failure with a world of pain.

So be aware - sports obsession is evil.

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The World.

The world teaches us to value: success, wealth, fame, possessions, status, sex, pleasure, authority, and power.....

But as disciples of Jesus we are to reject these values in favor of: compassion, honesty, non-violence, mercy, love, peace, and faith.....

These are the values of the Kingdom of God as set out in the Beatitudes.

And we are called to embody them.

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Salt.

Jesus said to his disciples: "'You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored?  It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.'"  Matthew 5:13 (NRSV)

I believe that this refers to what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called cheap grace - this salt that has lost its taste.

It refers to those who receive the Good News and accept the blessing but do not do anything in response.

They live their lives as everyone else does and don't think twice about it.

But Bonhoeffer asserted that more was necessary and that this came at a cost - costly grace.   

And that cost entailed a renunciation of worldly values in favor of the values of the Kingdom of God as set out in the Beatitudes.        

[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright ©  1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used By permission.  All rights reserved.]

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Love.

Love is a spiritual quality.

The source of love cannot be located in the body, mind, or nervous system.

And yet we feel love.

We feel love through our spirits.

And, just as the heart is the center of our body, so the spiritual heart is the center of our spiritual body.

The Soul or the Divine Spark is located within our spiritual heart.

And it is from the soul that love flows through our spirits and bodies.

And so love is a spiritual quality.

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Spirit.

Spirit is the animating principle of life!

It gives life to inanimate matter.

It is symbolized by God's Breath - The Breath of Life!

"then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being."  Genesis 1:7 (NRSV)

The Breath of Life is God's Spirit.

It permeates and supports all life.

And so we have a spiritual body.

And even plants and trees must have spirits.

This may help us to understands the Sacred Sites of Aboriginal people.

Our spirits discern the peace and presence of God in a particular place.

There may be extraordinary beauty and silence in a forest or a waterhole and this becomes a 'thin place' where we can encounter God.

Trees and plants breathe in what we exhale.

And so we are partners in a larger ecology.

[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]

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