Month: June 2017

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God Is Love And You Are Love

“Let all that you do be done with love. ” 1 Corinthians 16:14

In one last instruction, after facing many serious issues in the church, St Paul gives the church in Corinth this, he tells the people to “do everything in love.” Just love one another in everything you do.

To do things in love we need to look at our Creator, our Master of love, God. Always remembering, what is Love? God is love.  By loving everything and everyone around you, what you are doing when you do everything with love is honoring God and doing God’s work.

No matter what trials tribulations or sorrows we are bearing, no matter our enemies and how they have hurt us in the past or even how it is affecting you in the present.  It may be hard to understand how we can love these people who have hurt us, or caused a loved one so much pain.  “Love thy enemies.”

This goes back to forgiveness and to remember when we forgive, it is not necessarily for the person who hurt you, this process of forgiving with love is, of course, the opposite of hate so when we hate this only causes more evil around us, in turn, makes the pain in your heart and soul even more painful to bear.

In our daily lives, we may be busy with whatever may be happening at the time but let us remember the passage in the Bible when God said to “love thy neighbor as yourself.” This mean’s not only the person next door to you but everyone you come in contact with in your lifetime.

Most importantly love you. You are love because God lives inside of you. Remember this so your love can overflow to love others, and in doing so your ability to love the world and its people around you. When we love ourselves as God loves the world we can do God’s work all around us, spreading love to each and every part of the world as we live our lives.

 

Loving can be as simple as being courteous when walking through the grocery store and giving a smile to a person that looks like they may need it. Even if this person doesn’t return the smile you may have brightened their day without even knowing how or why. There are many examples of how to show love to the world but as we all know,  the heart connecting with your emotions will always let you know you when you’ve done the right thing.

Trust your instincts and the love you feel in your heart, your heart doesn’t know how to deceive you. Our heart is not blind to love. The heart sees what the eyes cannot see.

So the next time you feel that special feeling in your heart just remember to trust this gift that God has given you.

Go on and love yourself and the world around you. You are Beautiful God created you and God is love.

~ Sister Sherry Lynn Marie

 

 

 

 

 

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Decisions Decisions WWJD?

“But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15 (NLT)

As we travel our individual journeys on planet earth, we must make choices or face challenges requiring us to make a decision. Should I go this way, or that way? Should I do this, or that? How you make your decisions defines who you are as a person.

So, how do you make decisions?

To observe how someone makes decisions throughout their day, a simple review of their bank statement and time calendar should reveal all you could possibly want to know. Based on how one spends their money and time, will give you a clear indication on how someone determines what is important in his or her life.

If you really want to achieve something, be or do something, you must know where you want to go. Let’s say you have a goal of going from Seattle to New York. You can look at your starting place and your destination on a map and draw a straight line from here to there.

Now, in a perfect world, you would just step out your front door and arrive in New York in a few hours, but we live in an imperfect world with laws of motion and gravity which can have influential variances, routes with unexpected twists and turns, and a wide variety of distractions and delays along the way, when trying to get from here to there.

The slightest variance in direction, of only a few degrees, will land you in Miami, instead of New York; way off your intended destination.

So, if you want to get where you’re going in life, you may consider paying attention to the details. Often making an impromptu decision can result in your ending up lost on some godforsaken logging road or deer trail. It could take you a while before you get back on track.

What’s your rule of thumb in making decisions? I know, it wasn’t long ago and the acronym WWJD, which stands for “What would Jesus do?” was quite popular. But what a great sentiment it was. You could use this as your rule of thumb and replace Jesus’ name with any mentor, person or deity whose decision-making skills you respect. Just pausing for a brief moment to ponder, what would that person do if he or she were in my shoes, right now?

Choosing to engage in an activity that does not serve your best interests, further your cause, or lead you closer to achieving a goal is at the very least a distraction, but could very well derail your whole train (and not just your train of thought). It can leave you wounded and in a weakened condition that could take a great deal of time to recover from.

I kind of like the WWJD idea. I am okay with using Jesus as a role model because, well, I’m his biggest fan, and I’ve followed his work for the greater part of my life. I feel like he and I share a resonance. So, in that moment, when I ask, “What would Jesus do?” That works for me.

If you’re a businessperson and you admire and have followed the work of Steve Jobs, you might pause and ask, “What would Steve do?” And just taking that brief moment to consider the possibilities of looking outside of yourself, your life, and your circumstances, may be all that you need to keep on track.

Whatever works for you, do that thing. Try to make good decisions and stay the course to achieve your highest and best.

Whoever you admire and respect, look up to and inspires you, use the mind of that person to step into momentarily in the moment of your decision.

But for me and my family, we will ask, “What would Jesus do?”

~ Rev. David M, St. Paul’s Free Church

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Do what is right without judgment

“Do what is right and good in the LORD’s sight, so that it may go well with you.” (Deuteronomy 6:18 NIV)

We are, each one of us, on our own individual path, and we take (or should take) responsibility for our own lives, how we live them and how we respond to that which we expose ourselves to.

For instance, I realized that when I exposed myself to negative media, it made me feel bad. One day, I decided I was no longer going to subject myself to feeling bad about someone else’s life. If I’m going to feel bad, it’s going to be about whatever is happening to me.

So, I went on a media hiatus, and stopped exposing myself to negative news. That was the first step. I immediately started to feel better. Then I really went all out there and started looking for good news. Believe it, or not, I was able to find sources for good news via the Good News Network, Sunny Skys, and Daily Good dot Org.

And for me, this was an excellent way for me to “do what is right and good.” Just by making that little tweak, the world became a much better place, and things began to go very well for me.

Then a friend of mine posted on facebook, “The world is such an evil place, there’s nothing but bad news every time I watch the news.” I thought my media hiatus might be just what the doctor ordered for my friend, whom I’d noticed does seem to be depressed a good deal of the time.

When I suggested that not exposing yourself to the news, particularly bad news, at all might be a better way to live a better life, you can already guess what happened; right?

I received a flaming response, accusing me of burying my head in the sand, and lacking in social responsibility, among other accusations.

It appears that in today’s socially respectable day and age, it is the duty of every American to subject themselves to a constant barrage of negative news from around the world. Elsewise, you are an ignoramus and a failure as an American, or possibly even a human being.

And, yes, my friend is also a believer.

I applaud everyone’s right to find their own way, so I support this person’s point of view, because they are passionate about their perspective, I love their position even more, as it applies to them.

But what works for one person, may not work for the next. I can certainly stand behind your opinion and defend your right to have it, if I chose a different point of view for myself in this moment.

It is upon each of us to determine what is right in the Lord’s sight for each of us. For me, my ministry is focused on planting and nurturing good seed, so it makes much more sense to create an environment that supports the work that I do.

For someone else, whose ministry is that of an advocate, political or spiritual warrior, they must remain focused on the news regarding victims, or the plight of others who are treated unjustly or unfairly, as they help make a stand against the darkness.

You see, there is no right or wrong in this issue of exposing one’s self to negative media. It’s up to you to decide what works for you, but you do not have the right to impose your view on another person or to berate someone else because they have a different opinion.

I know what it’s like to be passionate about what you believe in. When I first started serving in the ministry, I was very excited about my newfound beliefs, and I wanted to share it with everyone I could. What’s more is that I wanted to convince these people to understand and see things from my perspective, because I felt that this was the right thing to do.

So, in an attempt to persuade people to adopt my beliefs, I took up Christian debate, and I could logically interact with people, and brow beat them enough, that if they chose not to believe, like I did, sorrowfully, they had to concede they were going to hell. (Okay, I’m exaggerating, a bit. I know.)

But what I learned from my early experience in the ministry is this:

No one was ever converted by debate.

Oh, sure, you might be able to guilt someone into reciting the sinner’s prayer, but their experience would be shallow and not long lasting. Or maybe someone would do it, just so you’d go away and leave them alone.

A few years later, I discovered what does resonate with people, and it’s not how well you can recite scripture. Nor is it how well you can explain the deeper mysteries, or hidden facts within the smallest details of the bible.

No, what really resonates with everyone is love. That’s it. It’s that easy.

Love is what God is all about, and you are free to discover how that plays out in your life and how you are integrated with God’s love and the vibration of frequency which accompanies God’s love.

And you are invited to come and hang out with us in this loving vibration, if you like. If you come to appoint where this love vibration no longer serves you, feel free to move on.

Where we gather, you will find love. You will not find a platform to argue, because we will not enter into a debate with you. We honor your perspective and your right to it, and we can still hang with each other in God’s presence for as long as you like.

There is no judgment here, only love.

One day, we will all awaken and realize that we are all love, and that love is all there is. Everything else is an illusion. And some of us will enjoy the truth of love, as it is, here, on earth.

~ Rev. David M, St. Paul’s Free Church

 

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About Us

Founded on September 11, 1989, St. Paul’s Free Church was the coming together of ministers from different faiths in an effort to create a truly nondenominational church. The founding faiths included Episcopalian, Disciples of Christ, and Pentecostal, a fairly diverse coming together of extremes, later joined by Roman Catholic and Orthodox Judaism to round out the rough edges.

The original churches were located in Portland, Gresham, Salem, and Eugene Oregon. Then churches splintered off to find their own niches, while St. Paul’s Free Church remained the nondenominationally focused core, remaining independent, and tolerant, welcoming all who dared to attend.

Setting a new standard for nontraditional freedom of faith within a single organization, St, Paul’s Free Church sets a new standard of freedom in worship and service spanning a wide spectrum of styles and combination of doctrines.

St. Paul’s Free Church as an inclusive faith-based church continues to tear down the walls and empower ministers and servants of all types to embrace their God-given strengths, talents, and abilities to further serve the greater good and make the world a better place.

Leading others in integrous freedom of expression and speech while encouraging them to take spiritual responsibility for their own lives while discovering and following their own path.

St Paul’s Free Church, a God Source Energy church, promotes higher education, science, and healing to empower believers to share their spiritual gifts in love for a better world.

Currently, St. Paul’s Free Church is in the process of returning from a sabbatical and is in search of participants to serve as the new re-founding members and ministerial staff.

If you are willing to put your denominational weapons down and serve God and the world at large in a greater, more tolerant way, contact us for more information on how you can be a part of this growing phenomenon for God.