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A man asked his Pastor, “Pastor, why do you refuse to tell us who is going to heaven and who is not going to heaven.” “Because I’m not God,” replied the Pastor.
Once a church member visited her Pastor. She said, “Pastor, I’m sorry, but there are some things that many Christians say are true that I simply cannot believe is true.” The Pastor replied, “Friend, do not feel guilty, for sometimes one cannot believe something because her heart simply will not let her. God being Love will honor you for not believing what you cannot believe because of love.”
Because I am a Christian, I cannot believe some things many Christians say is Christian, even as because I am a human person I cannot believe some things other human persons believe.
One day a dear saint prayed, God show me how much you love and accept everyone. The man looked in the mirror, as he was about to shave. He had never felt such love and acceptance of himself, as he gazed into his own eyes. God said, “There, I answered your prayer.”
I have a dear Buddhist friend. He was once in Christianity. Christianity, as he knew it, did not allow a place for the deep spiritual practices Christ had led him into. He left the church and became a Buddhist teacher of Shambala training. One day he and I met at the church I served as Pastor, and we prayed and meditated together. He is one of the most Christ-like persons I know. He is a man of the Love of God in Christ. He is filled with the Holy Spirit. He is a sacramental presence. I thank God for this wonderful man, my brother spiritually, always and forever.
I met a wonderful Muslim young lady in medical school. She had no sympathies with Muslim extremists, anymore than she would with Christian extremists. She was a humble, Christ-like woman. Her spirit was wonderful, was beautiful; she was a woman of love, though she suffered much and at a young age from an incurable disease. She is a sacramental presence.
I have a gay friend. He has the gift of humor. He is one of the kindest, most Christian persons I know. He is a man who loves his family much. He is humble, admitting his need of communion and true love shared with others. He is more Christ-like than many who claim to be Christian and who would say he is going to hell. I thank God this man is my friend and my spiritual brother. He is a sacramental presence.
The “original sin” of man, his turning from God-centeredness to self-centeredness, meant first and foremost that he no longer looked upon the world and other human beings in a eucharistic way, as a sacrament of communion with God. He ceased to regard them as a gift, … So he no longer saw other persons and things as they are in themselves and in God, …—Bishop Kallistos Ware, The Orthodox Way
Someone once said, “By choosing verses here and there in the Bible, we can ‘prove’ anything we want.”
Once a church member visited her Pastor. She said, “Pastor, I’m befuddled by you. There are many persons you see as Christian whom our previous Pastors said are damned and going to hell. How do you see such as Christians and our former Pastors did not?” “Because,” replied the Pastor, “a person sees others as he is, not as others really are.”
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Once a person was very concerned to make sure others were not too liberal in their interpretation of Grace. She said to a dear lady in the church, “I do believe in the Grace of God, but we must be careful not to read too much into Grace.” The other lady replied, “Well, I would rather stand before God and God say, ‘You were too liberal in your interpretation of Grace and claim that I accepted some persons as in God who were not,’ than to stand before God and hear, ‘You were too conservative in your interpretation of Grace and judged persons as outside my Grace who were fully accepted by me.”
Would you prefer to underestimate or overestimate the extent of Grace? Your answer says a world about you, not Grace.
A man visited his Pastor. “Pastor, Christ is the only name under heaven by which we must be saved,” says the Bible, so, how do you think some persons who do not confess that name are Christians?” The Pastor replied, “Well, one reason is the name is not J-E-S-U-S or C-H-R-I-S-T, but the name is the essence of Christ. I know some persons who confess the essence of Christ by being like Christ in love and graciousness, and I know persons who confess the J-E-S-U-S or C-H-R-I-S-T and show no evidence of confessing the essence of Christ by love or graciousness. So, which one really confesses the name?”
Anyone can say “Jesus Christ,” it is quite another matter to grow in being like Jesus Christ.
Once a crowd was befuddled when a Pastor said, “I do not have any need to be called a Christian.” Someone asked, “How can you say such and be a Christian Pastor.” “Because when one in Christ, as a Christian, transcends all religious identifications by becoming one in communion and union with Christ, he no longer needs to be called a Christian, and being such a person, he has no need not to be called a Christian, either. He has become so emptied of himself, his only joy is to be in Love with Love, in everyone, in everything.”
He who has no need to be identified by the name of any religion, as though a religion can identify him, is preparing for Heaven, where there will be no one identified by religion. If God is beyond being identified by religion, then you are too, everyone is, for everyone is created in the image and likeness of God.
Once there was a beautiful sanctuary beside the Ocean. It blocked the beautiful view of the Ocean for many residents of the little community. God sent a storm and blew the sanctuary down. He was delighted to see persons enjoying the view of the Ocean.
There is a beautiful sanctuary built by the hands of God and filled with the Presence of God; it is called the world, some call it Nature.
OneLife Ministries is a pastoral outreach and nurture ministry of the First United Methodist Church, Fort Meade, FL. For Spiritual Direction, Pastoral Counseling, spiritual formation workshops, Christian meditation retreats, or more information about OneLife, write Rev. Dr. Brian K. Wilcox at briankwilcox@comcast.net.
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