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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
Adorable Presence!
Thou who art within and without,
above and below and all around;
Thou who art interpenetrating
the very cells of our being-
Thou who art the Eye of our eyes,
the Ear of our ears,
the Heart of our hearts,
the Mind of our minds,
the Breath of our breaths,
the Life of our lives,
and the Soul of our souls.
Bless us Dear God,
to be aware of Thy Presence
Now and Here.
This is all that we ask of Thee;
May all be aware of Thy Presence in
the East and the West,
and the North and the South.
May Peace and Goodwill abide
among individuals as well as among
communities and nations.
This is our Earnest Prayer.
May Peace be unto All
Om Shanti! Peace! Shalom!
*Attributed to Swami Omkar. Given at the 1993 Parliament of World Religions, in India. See 1stholistic.com .
LISTENING TO SCRIPTURE
4 The Sovereign Lord says, "People of Israel, go to the holy place in Bethel and sin, if you must! Go to [the holy place in] Gilgal and sin with all your might! Go ahead and bring animals to be sacrificed morning after morning, and bring your tithes every third day. 5 Go on and offer your bread in thanksgiving to God, and brag about the extra offerings you bring! This is the kind of thing you love to do."
*Amos 4.4-5 (GNT)
People of Israel, stop celebrating your festivals like pagans. You have turned away from your God and have been unfaithful to him. All over the land you have sold yourselves like prostitutes to the god Baal and have loved the grain you thought he paid you with!
*Hosea 9.1 (GNT)
9 You steal, murder, commit adultery, tell lies under oath, offer sacrifices to Baal, and worship gods that you had not known before.10 You do these things I hate, and then you come and stand in my presence, in my own Temple, and say, "We are safe!"
*Jeremiah 7.9-10 (GNT)
RECEIVING SACRED TEACHING
Sincerity is, perhaps, the most vitally important quality of true prayer. It is the only valid test of our faith, our hope, and our love of God. No matter how deep our meditations, nor how severe our penances, how grand our liturgy, how pure our chant, how noble our thoughts about the mysteries of God; they are all useless if we do not really mean what we say.
*Thomas Merton. No Man is an Island.
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7 You hypocrites! How right Isaiah was when he prophesied about you!
8 These people, says God, honor me with their words,
but their heart is really far away from me.
9 It is no use for them to worship me,
because they teach human rules as though they were my laws!
*Matthew 15.7-9 (GNT)
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Late one evening a poor farmer was on his way back from market and had lost his prayerbook, when the wheel of his cart had come off in the middle of the woods. He was distressed that the day would pass without his saying prayers.
So, this is the prayer he made: "I have done something very foolish, my Lord. I came away from home this morning without my prayerbook. And my memory is so bad I cannot recite a single prayer from it. So, this is what I will do. I will recite the alphabet five times very slowly and you, to whom all prayers are known, can put the letters together to form the prayers I cannot remember."
The Lord spoke to the angels: "Look, of all the prayers offered me today, this one is without doubt the best, for it came from a heart simple and sincere."
QUIETLY RESPONDING
What does it mean to be sincere in your faith? Do you know someone whose sincerity in faith has inspired you to be a more devout Christian?
Blessings!
Rev Dr Brian K Wilcox
June 10, 2009
barukhattah@embarqmail.com
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*References to Stephen Fitzhenry are from "Qualities of a Contemplative Soul," In Spiritual Life: A Journal of Contemporary Spirituality. Fall 2006.
*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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