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Welcome to OneLife Ministries. This site is designed to lead you prayerfully into a heart experience of Divine Presence, Who is Love. While it focuses on Christian teaching, I pray persons of varied faiths will find inspiration here. Indeed, "God" can be whatever image helps us trust in the Sacred, by whatever means Grace touches us each. Please share this ministry with others, and I hope you return soon. There is a new offering daily. And to be placed on the daily OneLife email list, to request notifications of new writings or submit prayer requests, write to barukhattah@embarqmail.com .
Blessings,
Rev Dr Brian K Wilcox, MDiv, MFT, PhD
Pastor-Teacher, Author, Workshop Leader, Spiritual Counselor, Chaplain
Brian encourages support of the 4-Star Christian organization Compassion, which supports children worldwide; for more see www.compassion.com .
OPENING PRAYER
O holy Child of Bethlehem,
descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin, and enter in,
be born in us today.
*Phillips Brooks. "O Little Town of Bethlehem." 1867.
LISTENING TO THE SCRIPTURE
16 You are so handsome, my love,
pleasing beyond words!
The soft grass is our bed;
17 fragrant cedar branches are the beams of our house,
and pleasant smelling firs are the rafters.
*Song of Songs 1.16-17 (NLT)
34 Mary asked the angel, "But how can this happen? I am a virgin."
35 The angel replied, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. 36 What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she’s now in her sixth month."
*Luke 1.35-36 (NLT)
RECEIVING SACRED TEACHING
My virginal heart, one rose petal
In a Garden of Love
Lying here, a Wind moves upon me, silently
I fall into the Fire
A conception, painful and sweet,
Could this be what I've always yearned for, but had no words to speak?
A whisper, in the glad dark, "Friend,
this Fire, the funeral pyre"
Flesh to ashes, I've become tonight,
Words to spirit, kisses of Light
No wonder, in Here with You,
I feel so alive!
Where to go, to find your self? someone asks
No where, No I, No we
This death, I'd rather have than that life
This Life, so secretly concealed from everyone's sight
All seeking ended, I found and
We're one touching the Sky
I just heard Something
But I dare not say ...
*Brian K. Wilcox, "So Alive."
Love is sufficient of itself; it gives pleasure by itself and because of itself. It is its own merit, its own reward. Love looks for no cause outside itself, no effect beyond itself. Its profit lies in the practice. Of all the movements, sensations and feelings of the soul, love is the only one in which the creature can respond to the Creator and make some sort of similar return however unequal though it be. For when God loves, all he desires is to be loved in return. The sole purpose of his love is to be loved, in the knowledge that those who love him are made happy by their love of him.
*St. Bernard of Clairvaux
QUIETLY RESPONDING
What does Love mean to you? How does that relate to your faith? The Holy Spirit coming upon Mary to conceive Jesus? Your relationship with God? Your gender? Your sexuality? Your conceiving God?
Blessings!
Rev Dr Brian K Wilcox
May 29, 2009
barukhattah@embarqmail.com
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*OneLife Ministries is a ministry of Brian K. Wilcox, of SW Florida. Brian lives a vowed life and with his two dogs, Bandit Ty and St. Francis. Brian is an ecumenical spiritual leader, open to how Christ manifests in the diversity of Christian denominations and varied religious-spiritual traditions. He is Senior Chaplain for the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office, Punta Gorda, FL.
*Brian welcomes responses to his writings or submission of prayer requests at barukhattah@embarqmail.com . Also, Brian is on Facebook: search Brian Kenneth Wilcox.
*Contact the above email to book Brian for Spiritual Direction, retreats, or workshops. You can order his book An Ache for Union at major book dealers.
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