July 3: Self Care--Beware "the busyness trap"

July 3 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

Self Care Tip from the NY Times: Beware the Busyness Trap

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/30/the-busy-trap/

If you live in America in the 21st century you’ve probably had to listen to a lot of people tell you how busy they are. It’s become the default response when you ask anyone how they’re doing: “Busy!” “So busy.” “Crazy busy.” It is, pretty obviously, a boast disguised as a complaint. And the stock response is a kind of congratulation: “That’s a good problem to have,” or “Better than the opposite.”

July 2: Businesses Emphasize Spirituality

July 2 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

Learn how Louisville businesses are emphasizing spirituality in the workplace (from Peter Smith at the Louisville Courier-Journal)

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20120701/BUSINESS13/307010007/More-businesses-emphasizing-spirituality?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CBusiness%7Cp

While there’s a long history of chaplaincy in health-care fields, its presence in a for-profit arena mirrors a steady growth in emphasis on spiritual values in various businesses, from food service to high tech to soda bottling.

 

July 1 Tip: Importance of "just doing" spiritual practices

July 1 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

From Krishna Das: Learning the importance of "just doing" any spiritual practice.

http://www.soundstrue.com/weeklywisdom/?source=podcast&p=6342&category=WW&version=full

The most important part of any spiritual practice is doing it. That is why we should always just “do the practice” and not be overly concerned with or focused on what we think the results might be, or even on our own state of mind. The truth is, it can’t be what we think! It just is! It is not up to us to create it—we are simply cleaning the mirror of our hearts so we can see the reflection of our own true face without distortion.

June 30: Learn another definition of compassion

June 30 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

Learn a different definition of compassion (and spirituality) from spiritual master Matthew Fox

"A Spirituality Named Compassion"

In his book by that title (Harper & Row, 1990), Matthew Fox, a Dominican scholar and educator, writes that recent translators of Matthew 5:48 re-word the familiar, "be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" as "be compassionate as your heavenly Father is compassionate."

Compassion, Fox further points out, is not simply feeling sorry.  Rather it is a deep, gut-wrenching identification of another's feelings as our own.  (The Hebrew Scriptures refer to Yahweh's "bowels of compassion.")  This is no abstract idea we are invited to entertain, but a physical sensation of shared feeling.  We are asked to enter the emotions, joy, and pain of all human beings wherever they are; whatever their situation in life.

But what does compassion have to do with spirituality?

Spirituality, for Fox and for most of the great spiritual leaders of the world, is not how often we say our prayers or read the Bible.  Rather, it is the way we live our prayers; the way we act on what we have learned from scripture.  It is literally the embodiment of our vision of God.

June 29: Learn about "Association of Community Ministries"

June 29 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

Learn about Louisville's pioneering "Association of Community Ministries."

http://www.louisvilleministries.org/

 There are 15 Community Ministries in the Louisville area that serve residents from every zip code. Each community ministry is supported by member churches and faith-based groups residing in their service area.

June 28: View a video on "The Empathic Civilization"

June 28 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

View a short video on "The Empathic Civilization" on the web site for the Unitarian Fellowship for World Peace

http://www.ufwpeace.org/

The Unitarian Fellowship for World Peace (UFWP) is a non-denominational, not-for-profit organization that provides a common ground for problem-solving issues facing children and their families. We acknowledge the oneness of humanity and the commonality of the human spirit regardless of ethnic/racial origin, cultural/religious background, or nationality. Our purpose is to educate the public about the importance of recognizing that a sustainable world peace in the future is dependent upon how we raise our children today. Our tools are dialogue, using art as a universal language, emotional support for those in need of healing, and education about human potential, renewal, and sustainability of the environment.

June 27: Explore "The Cost of Discipleship"

June 27 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

Learn about Protestant Theologian (and martyr) Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his book "The Cost of Discipleship"

http://www.crossroad.to/Persecution/Bonhoffer.html


Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today for costly grace. Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjacks’ wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the Church’s inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits. Grace without price; grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing....[45]

Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth, the love of God taught as the Christian 'conception' of God. An intellectual assent to that idea is held to be of itself sufficient to secure remission of sins.... In such a Church the world finds a cheap covering for its sins; no contrition is required, still less any real desire to be delivered from sin. Cheap grace therefore amounts to a denial of the living Word of God, in fact, a denial of the Incarnation of the Word of God.[45-46]

Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything they say, and so everything can remain as it was before. 'All for sin could not atone.' Well, then, let the Christian live like the rest of the world, let him model himself on the world’s standards in every sphere of life, and not presumptuously aspire to live a different life under grace from his old life under sin.... 

Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession.... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.[47]
Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man’ will gladly go and self all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.

Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: “ye were bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.

Costly grace is the sanctuary of God; it has to be protected from the world, and not thrown to the dogs. It is therefore the living word, the Word of God, which he speaks as it pleases him. Costly grace confronts us as a gracious call to follow Jesus. It comes as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. Grace is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

On two separate occasions Peter received the call, “Follow me.” It was the first and last word Jesus spoke to his disciple (Mark 1.17; John 21.22). A whole life lies between these two calls. The first occasion was by the lake of Gennesareth, when Peter left his nets and his craft and followed Jesus at his word. The second occasion is when the Risen Lord finds him back again at his old trade. Once again it is by the lake of Gennesareth, and once again the call is: “Follow me.” Between the two calls lay a whole life of discipleship in the following of Christ. Half-way between them comes Peter's confession, when he acknowledged Jesus as the Christ of God....[48]

This grace was certainly not self-bestowed. It was the grace of Christ himself, now prevailing upon the disciple to leave all and follow him, now working in him that confession which to the world must sound like the ultimate blasphemy, now inviting Peter to the supreme fellowship of martyrdom for the Lord he had denied, and thereby forgiving him all his sins. In the life of Peter grace and discipleship are inseparable. He had received the grace which costs.[49]

As Christianity spread, and the Church became more secularized, this realization of the costliness of grace gradually faded. The world was Christianized, and grace became its common property. It was to be had at low cost.[49]