Mindful Leader
Episodes
Wednesday Sep 19, 2018
Season of Pentecost -- James -- Avoiding the Stain of the World
Wednesday Sep 19, 2018
Wednesday Sep 19, 2018
Pentecost 15: 18.09.09
Sunday Two of Five Straight RCL Sundays on James
The verse immediately before this passage got my attention -- it had to do with avoiding the stain of the world. That was the lens by which I explored this passage.
James 2:1-10, (11-13), 14-17
1 My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? 2 For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, 3 and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, "Have a seat here, please," while to the one who is poor you say, "Stand there," or, "Sit at my feet," 4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? 7 Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?
8 You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 9 But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. 11 For the one who said, "You shall not commit adultery," also said, "You shall not murder." Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? 17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
Thursday Jan 25, 2018
Unafraid -- Fear of the Other
Thursday Jan 25, 2018
Thursday Jan 25, 2018
This was a look at Fear of the Other. Connect with each other. Quite a bit of reference back to the music we sang this day. The reprise I used was a little play off an acronym of FEAR -- Face Everything and Rise with some words from Dr. King on moving from fear to knowing and meeting.
Question is "how often do we let our fear of the stranger drive us to not connect."
Some continuation of the previous week's theme of connectedness, but here the connectedness is getting past the dikes that hold us in our own flood of fear of the other. Dikes of courage (among other things) are needed (a quote i thought about using, but didn't.)
I am currently listening to Isaac Asimov Robots of Dawn and wonder how much of this might be helpful ... if you are not familiar with the book, do not worry. If you are, the conversation Daneel and Elijah in Chapter 2 is what I am thinking. Elijah has to see Robots differently on Aurora than on Earth. On Earth, they are an object of scorn and subservience. On Aurora (a fictitious planet) they are near equals, if not precisely equals. Elijah has to be taught this, as it does not come naturaly to him. Yes?
Quotes from Dr. King:
"People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don't know each other; they don't know each other because they have not communicated with each other."
"We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear."
― Martin Luther King Jr.
Thursday Jan 25, 2018
Unafraid - We Need Community
Thursday Jan 25, 2018
Thursday Jan 25, 2018
Question is "what keeps you from getting connected with others?"
But two prong: we ourselves must open ourselves up to others but others must also look at us and be willing to attempt to connect with us. Not an either/or but both/and.
Music focusing on community (invite the stranger) but also recognizing the need for solitude. Mixed. A balance. Not exclusively hang out with others all day/every day. We need to be together, in fact, we are made to be in community but on the other hand, it is natural, and biblical to seek moments alone.