Christian Green

All who believed were together, and had all things in common.  They sold their possessions and goods, and distributed them to all, according as anyone had need.  Day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord . . .
Acts 2:44 -46

Ever wondered what it would look like if a group of Christian friends were living like that nowadays?

THIS is what it looks like for one local congregation.

and there are others, also.  I'll post them as time allows.

BE peace today!
Brother Alan

We are MORE than what we believe! Our thinking powers are limited, evidenced by the fact that we are all constantly sharing and learning together. That MORE is experienced when we are quiet and still long enough to silence our train of thoughts and feel our eternal presence. Our likeness to our Creator. There's what others think we are, what we believe we are, and then what we actually are: which is so large and mysterious a concept that we are not yet fully equipped to "wrap our minds around it all." The big secret that many preachers and prophets cannot see: humans are powerful creatures, even within our weakness of  temporal material being. For those baptized into Christ, NOTHING is impossible! Have you moved your mountain today?

All decisions we make in Life spring from either the fertile soil of Love, or from the rocky ground of fear. Be still and listen from which YOUR next decision grows.

Remain a fruitful branch of the tree of Life! Follow the Way, the Truth, the Love. By keeping to the straight path, swerving neither to the left nor the right, we reach our fullest human potential. Via media. The middle way. As a full participant within Ecclesia, discovering our varied spiritual gifts, loving and protecting the natural diversity of all creation -- yet finding, sharing and ACTING upon our commons -- glocalized humanity moves history forward.

Life is the alpha and omega. Everything came from the One and everything will return to That from which it came. Pure and simple. Our purpose is to reach into the spiritual dimension of the one Reality and pull back hidden treasure to share with our awakened brothers and sisters. Incarnation. The kind we can do every breath we are given. Smile Grace upon all you meet! Spread the Love, Peace, Justice, and Mercy. The rising Tide lifts all boats.

It's better to say to one of the opposite sex: I need you because I love you -- rather than the other way 'round. The Giver of All has no needs. That's OK. We return the Love by giving to another sojourner of this earth.

"Father Sky" and "Mother Nature" are just one dyadic instance of the ever-present yin-yang. He likes sex. He created it. Big bang, followed by rapid expansion and growth, which slows down and continues even today, yet always harbors within the seeds of death. We are stardust. Black holes are the garbagemen of the universe. Everything is connected. Everything is One.

This is the Mystery: ever-present One is similarly OUTSIDE of creation, as all creators are. Humans, and to some extent our evolutionary kin, are co-creators of history during this epoch of eternity we call time. The One has allowed all human cultures to see glimpses of the Truth. Truth has no need of being defended: no individual or group may claim a monopoly. We learn to share within the multitude our singular truths for Peace and Wisdom.

The distinctiveness of Jesus of Nazareth was that he arrived coming down a descending Path. He came down to meet us! Born poor and having to outrun those in power who murder, He turned the conventional world upside down. He faced the status quo with the quiet strength of radical change. In natural consequence, the fundamental religious and imperial political powers of the age issued a death penalty. These powerful, yet unconscious men had no clue as to what they were actually doing. Jesus rose!           (the MAIN event of history)

But NOT to start a new religion. There were already plenty of those. He came to give Life!  You know, that stuff you feel coursing through your veins right now. Choosing Life over death. Cooperation over competition. What goes 'round comes around. Add positive into the flow. That's the Way the world works.

Instead of cursing the darkness, light a candle. Expose error and unconsciousness (sin) with Love and Humility. Be the change you want to see. Salt keeps meat from rotting before dinnertime. Don't blame the meat: it's gonna do what it do. Be the salt that makes for a beautiful dinner. Be in Christ. Joy to the world this season!

Peace.

Your Christian Green brother,
Alan

Hey, some things have landed on my desk:

for the "reluctant prophets" out there (spiritual -- not religious)

Prophetic TV (hope -- not Armeggedon)

We know that "it's NOT about us," it's about the One and the Purpose!

Peace.

Your brother in Christ,
Alan

"The best way to predict your future is to create it."
-- Erich Fromm

"Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us?"
-- Malachi 2:10

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious.
It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science."
-- Albert Einstein

"Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage
you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically,
but nothing consistently without courage."
-- Maya Angelou

"The future belongs to those who give the next generation reason for hope."
-- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

"America is simultaneously the most professedly Christian of the developed nations and
the least Christian in its behavior. At the moment the idea of Jesus has been hijacked by people
with a series of causes that do not reflect his teachings. It's hard to imagine a con much
more audacious than making Christ the front man for a program of tax cuts for the rich or war in Iraq.
We have made golden calves of ourselves --- become a nation of terrified, self-obsessed idols."
-- Bill McKibben

"Our life is an apprenticeship to the truth
that around every circle another can be drawn;
that there is no end in nature,
but every end is a beginning,
and under every deep
a lower deep opens."
-- R.W.Emerson

"When we have undermined the patriotic lie, we shall have cleared the path
for the great structure where all shall be united into a universal brotherhood — a truly free society."
-- Emma Goldman

Proverbs 1:10-23

      My son, if sinners entice you, don’t consent. If they say, “Come with us! Let’s lay in wait for blood; let’s lurk secretly for the innocent without Cause; let’s swallow them up alive like Sheolb, and whole, like those who go down into the pit. We’ll find all valuable wealth. We’ll fill our houses with spoil. You shall cast your lot among us. We’ll all have one purse.”

      My son, don’t walk in the way with them. Keep your foot from their path, for their feet run to evil. They hurry to shed blood. For in vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird: but these lay wait for their own blood. They lurk secretly for their own lives. So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain. It takes away the life of its owners.

      Wisdom calls aloud in the street. She utters her voice in the public squares. She calls at the head of noisy places. At the entrance of the city gates, she utters her words: “How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? How long will mockers delight themselves in mockery, and fools hate knowledge? Turn at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you. I will make known my words to you.”

911: You're either with us or against us. Can these "good Christians" read the Book? We sure can.

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. By their fruits you will know them.”  -- Jesus of Nazareth [Matthew 7:15-6]

The perpetual state of war that our current neocon leaders desire does not have to be. We are many and they are few. They need us more than we need them. More accurately, what I mean to say this: "they" have the same God-given rights of life and the pursuit of happiness as "we" do. It's just that "our leaders" can be from those who are more intelligent and have a firmer grasp of reality and ethical behavior.

"Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”  -- Jesus of Nazareth [Mark 9:50]

Salt was used to keep meat from rotting before dinnertime. It's not the meat's fault: it's gonna do what it do. It's OUR job to keep this place from becoming stinking rotten by exposing unhealthy practice and perception. Don't curse the darkness. Light a candle.

Thomas Jefferson wrote that every generation has the responsibility of vigilance. Somebody else said that it's not what the evil do; it's when the good do nothing.

BTW - I'm not a "religious-right fundamentalist" nor a "liberal watered-down Christian."  I am a spiritual progressive on a straight path, swerving neither to the left nor the right. Media Via. The Middle Way. I'm a theistic evolutionist (if that's the way the One did it, what's the argument?) and a Christian Green.

We make all of our decisions from either love or fear. Be still and feel from which YOU decide.

Peace.

What am I passionate about? Why do I get up every morning feeling so alive?

It's that I learn so many new things, how everything is connected and how all beauty is from the One. We live in an extraordinary time. We can all shared our thoughts and feelings with anyone from around the globe. We can can see the world around us changing and growing in understanding. We can give of ourselves and participate in all of this.

I am among the philosophers and truth seekers. I want to begin a better way of life than what I've seen. I'm a Christian Green, a spiritual progressive, a theistic evolutionist. Via Media - The Middle Way. Walking the straight path in the mystery of Life, swerving neither to the left nor right.

OK. I am a Libra. Oct. 8th, 1960. Fellow "October Eighthians" include Matt Damian, Chevy Chase, and Jesse Jackson. I'm self educated, sometimes silly, and a social activist.

My wife of 25 years, Sandi, is a Sagitarian. We have two grown children and two beautiful granddaughters.
I work as a carpenter and remoldeler in the Houston area. My wife is a recent above-the-knee amputee.
We are both very adaptive and love life: the here and now. We are both baptized Christians learning from -- and sharing with  -- all world faiths.

I took a journalism class in 2003 and wrote eleven weekly columns as an editor of the local college newspaper.
I relied on some very progressive, cutting-edge authors to inform my writing, which resonated with a few locals.
Most of the intuitions and ideas that I shared were counter cultural towards the local conservatives.
At the time, I was only writing from a socio-political stance. However, during the past five years I have seen almost every one of those statements "come true."

A prophet is simply a voice for the One. A conduit connecting the spiritual world to the material world.
And it is very humbling - yet very exciting - to discover that you are not alone.
Maybe a close encounters of the third kind of thing going on here. That's the beauty of it all. An American beauty.

Before someone decides this is crazy talk, simply give it a chance to show itself to you.
The opposite of fear is love. Be still and see from which you make your decisions.

My wife and I have been discussing the possibility of relocating to Berkeley for a while.
Time enough to learn and grow, then depart to share and spread the love. Before the Big One hits CalifornIA.
God has shown truth and love and understanding and wisdom to many people in many places, in many times.
World knowledge seems to be coming together - integrating - in the Bay Area. It wants to be disseminated amongst twenty-first century Americans of all walks of life. So we find our voices and share with the rest of the world our salt and light. Maybe God will co-create with us all, taking one world at a time. ". . . on earth as it is in heaven."

Peace.
Your new friend, Alan.