Be Still And Know

This verse from the Bible has been a point of confusion for me for quite a long time. I remember as a child singing it as a chorus in church, and feeling rather odd saying the words "I am God." 

When God commanded Moses to go free his people from the Egyptians, Moses wanted to know what to say to them. God replied, "I AM who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.” Another version of this has the verse saying "I will be what I will be," as if to tell us "Hey, I'm God, I need no description!"

In the New Testament, Jesus was teaching on the Mount of Olives when he said to the throngs gathered, "'Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad’ Then the Jews said to him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?’Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.’ So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple."

And so my question is, is it our time to blaspheme just like Jesus, and recognize the divinity which lay inside us?  Saying "I am God" - to ourselves or to others, may sound strange or even incomprehensible to others, but I believe that God is Spirit and that all things are connected, so in a real way, I am God. People may respond, "Well, you're not all powerful, you don't perform miracles, you don't control the universe." But they are viewing God behind the lens of the supernatural, God-man in the sky who is a literal, judgmental person. But if I see God as Spirit and that all is one with God, I can say "I am God."  If I'm uncomfortable with that phrase, I can use "I am Love," because according to Scripture, God is Love.  Or I can distill it even further and simply say "I AM."  

For a long time I've been uncomfortable with labels, whether it be as a fundamentalist Christian or otherwise. Even my name is a burden sometimes and it in itself does not accurately contain all that I AM.

Perhaps it would help if we could remember one of these statements throughout our day:

• "Be still and know that I am God."
• "Be still and know that I am Love."
• "Be still and know that I am.

We say these things not because we're having a power or authority trip, but because we realize that we are one with the living Spirit which is God.

My Heart Has Become Capable Of Every Form

My heart has become capable of every form:
it is a pasture for gazelles,
and a monastery for Christian monks,
And a temple for idols,
And the Pilgrims' ka'ba,
and the tablet of the Torah,
and the Book of the Koran.
I follow the religion of Love:
whatever way love's camel takes,
That is my religion, my faith.

~ Ibn Al-Arabi, Sufi mystic (1165-1240)

"The Oversoul" by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Unitarian, 1803-1882

Let us learn the revelation of all nature and thought; that the Highest dwells within us, that the sources of nature are in our own minds.

As there is no screen or ceiling between our heads and the infinite heavens, so there is no bar or wall in the soul where we, the effect, cease, and God, the cause, begins.

I am constrained every moment to acknowledge a higher origin for events than the will I call mine.

There is deep power in which we exist and whose beatitude is accessible to us.

Every moment when the individual feels invaded by it is memorable.

It comes to the lowly and simple; it comes to whosoever will put off what is foreign and proud; it comes as insight; it comes as serenity and grandeur.

The soul's health consists in the fullness of its reception.

For ever and ever the influx of this better and more universal self is new and unsearchable.

Within us is the soul of the whole; the wise silence, the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related; the eternal One.

When it breaks through our intellect, it is genius; when it breathes through our will, it is virtue; when it flows through our affections, it is love.

There's A Wideness In Your Mercy

by: Frederick William Faber (1814-1863)


There's a wideness in your mercy
Like the wideness of the sea;
There's a kindness in your justice
Which is more than liberty;


But we make your love too narrow
By false limits of our own;
And we magnify your strictness
With a zeal you will not own;


For the love of God is broader
Than the measures of  our minds;
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind.

F.W. Faber

A World Where Happiness Is The Bottom Line

The serious business of creating a happier world

by Mark Williamson, The Guardian

 The tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan measures its success in terms of "Gross National Happiness" (GNH).

A historic event took place just before Easter, the first ever United Nations conference on happiness with more than 600 delegates including leaders and representatives from nations around the world.

This was the first major step forward in a process which began last summer, when the resolution Happiness: towards a holistic approach to development was unanimously adopted by the UN General Assembly. Taking the lead was Bhutan, the tiny Himalayan kingdom which famously measures its success in terms of "Gross National Happiness" (GNH).

The basic idea is that human progress is about more than just growing the economy. When we measure how well our societies are doing, this should focus on people's overall quality of life, not just their standard of living. Economic growth can of course be beneficial, for example by lifting people out of poverty; but it can also come with unwanted side-effects, like increases in inequality, mental illness and environmental damage. The economy is a means to an end; the ultimate end is the happiness of the people. Read full article @ The Guardian.

Embracing Faces Of Poverty, On The Streets & In The Mirror

"If sometimes our poor people have had to die of starvation, it is not because God didn't care for them, but because you and I didn't give, were not instruments of love in the hands of God, to give them that clothing; because we did not recognize him, when once more Christ came in distressing disguise - in the hungry man, in the lonely man, in the homeless child, and seeking for shelter.


God has identified himself with the hungry, the sick, the naked, the homeless; hunger, not only for bread, but for love, for care, to be somebody to someone; nakedness, not of clothing only, but nakedness of that compassion that very few people give to the unknown; homelessness, not only just for a shelter made of stone, but that homelessness that comes from having no one to call your own."


~ Mother Teresa of Calcutta


Wise words from Mother Teresa, who left this earth in 1997.  The above quote raises certain questions that I must ask myself. If God has truly identified himself with the hungry, the sick, the naked and the homeless, and if Jesus also identified himself with the poor and needy, what implications does this have for my life today? I can think of two:

1) I will no longer turn my head while walking on the main street downtown when a person with a visible mental illness walks by.  I will not look with disdain at the men smoking cigarettes outside of their shelter. Even if I can't give money, I will react with empathy when the young mother asks me for money as I pass by.  I will not hold onto too many material goods, instead donating them to charities that do excellent work in the community.  A big question that I will be forced to ask, "How do I look at these people as my brother or sister, rather than a nuisance."

There is a verse in the New Testament book of James which says, "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world."  So according to James, it is my job, my duty to care for those in distress. But how can I "keep oneself unstained by the world?"  I can do so by looking for the face of God in the poor and needy rather than collecting more and more physical materials, which I can't take into the next life anyway.

2) I will not be so quick to run away from my own poverty, be it physical, emotional, or otherwise. This is very hard to do, because it seems as if many of us are programmed from birth to avoid poverty, and when I need something I immediately go out and get something to assuage that need.  But I have noticed as I've lived in poverty for some time now, that the annoyance and the hurt that poverty brings also carries with it a "pull" or a "drawing toward" God and my inner wisdom.  When I don't have movies that I can constantly entertain myself with, when I do not have a lot of events that I can attend, I am left with the question: "Do you trust me?"  Jesus' words as recorded by Matthew quickly follow: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6: 19-21)

I think that sometimes I do myself a disservice by automatically running away from pain or poverty or hurt.  Rather, I can find God and the true treasures of life when I look into that pain.

Let us learn today to embrace those who are poor and in need, including ourselves.

Picking & Choosing What We Like From The Bible

Classic clip from The West Wing. President Bartlett speaks at the 1:20 mark.