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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
Interspiritual Pastor-Teacher, Author, Workshop Leader, Spiritual Counselor, and Chaplain.
Brian encourages support of the 4-Star Christian organization Compassion, which supports children worldwide; see www.compassion.com .
Opening Affirmation
Go into a brief time of silence, affirming the following: feel the truth of the affirmation:
I am filled with Love.
Opening Prayer
Blessed, Holy Spirit, refresh me wholly. Make me a blessing, today. May your Loving flow through me toward all beings. Help me be more appreciative of the persons and creatures in my world. Amen.
Sacred Scriptures
Kiss me and kiss me again,
for your love is sweeter than wine.
*Song of Songs 1.2 (NLT)
Sacred Teaching
James Hudson Taylor (1832-1905), in his classic Union and Communion, on the Song of Solomon, writes about the woman in our Scripture for today, and her longing for connection with her Lover:
It is well that it should be so; it marks a distinct stage in the development of the life of grace in the soul. And this recorded experience gives, as it were, a Divine warrant for the desire for sensible manifestations of His presence - sensible communications of His love.
While Taylor relates this to the Christian's relationship with Christ, the poem was originally an erotic piece, speaking of human affection and sexuality. Kissing is a sensual sign and evocation of love and sexual expression.
That the woman speaks of her lover's love being sweeter than wine, speaks of a tangible connection. How much more can one depict such than using the sense of taste? She is not content with merely words of love, with knowing she is loved; she longs to taste the lover and his loving.
"Taste" is a symbol of the sensation of connection, emotionally and physically. This is similar to sayings like, "I love you so much I could eat you." And this same desire for sensible union is seen in the Eucharist, where we share a tasting of the blood and body of Christ. See, symbols of a strong, ardent connection are in our vocabulary and ritual, and have complements in Scripture.
Certainly, when one wants to share loving sexually, he or she does not pull out a manual of quantitative research data on the operations of the body and brain during sexual union. No, all the information, however accurate, in the world cannot fulfill the desire for sensible connection between the two persons.
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Phil Hook writes, in Rhythms of the Heart, about the connection we call Loving:
My mother and I did not "mix." I chose the typical teenage solution to the problem - silence.
I would leave for school in the morning, come home to eat, then leave again. When I was finally home at night, I read books.
Invariably, my mother would come downstairs and ask me if I wanted a sandwich. I grunted my assent. She cooked egg and bacon sandwiches for me night after night until I left home for good.
Years later, when our relationship was mended, she told me why she had made all those sandwiches. "If you would ever talk to me, it was while I made that sandwich," she said.
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Consistently to connect in union with a being is a spiritual act of Loving, a rite of Grace. Such consistent loving requires we regress from acting as if we're the center of everything. We're all the center of everything, which means, also, we're all the center of nothing at all. Then, we can love consistently, and we can appreciate the beings in our lives, and our lives as a sacred Path:
We're just these tiny vulnerable beings riding on a blue dot in space. Yet sometimes we act like we're the center of the universe. The enlightened alternative is to appreciate how incredibly rare and precious human life is. The enlightened alternative is to appreciate everything. By appreciating whatever we encounter, we can use it to further our journey of [spirituality]. We are good as we are, and it is good as it is. Once we have this understanding, we'll see that we are living in a sacred world.
*Sakyong Mipham. Turning the Mind into an Ally.
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We need to see Loving is not a mere emotion. Yet, this Reality of Loving leads us, in varying degrees of emotional affection, and sometimes apart from it, to join in union with the Loved One.
Hook's mother connected through sandwiches. That was her expression of appreciation for her son, not the "ideal" son, but her son. She appreciated the son before her, even before he understood and appreciated his mother's love well.
Our relationships are essential to our spiritual unfolding. As we enter more into Loving, we discover we are less needy, we are more prepared to appreciate the uniqueness of each being in our life, and we are more prepared to seek peace with all beings - realizing we all share this sacred world and are to use it to serve the good of each other.
Quietly Responding
1) In what ways do you see yourself becoming a more Loving being? Explain.
2) Whom in your life is a "teacher" to you of Loving? Explain.
3) What are some ways you seek to connect with the persons in your life?
4) Do you find yourself able to receive Loving easily, or do you struggle to let yourself be loved easily? Clarify your response.
5) Is there someone in your life who is resisting your Loving? How might you better seek to connect with that person?
6) Is someone trying to connect more closely with you? Is it wise to let this person do so? If yes, how might you be more open to receiving the Loving?
7) If you live with someone, list several ways you daily show that person you love him or her.
Blessings! In Love! And Peace to All!
Brian Kenneth Wilcox
July 10, 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-interspiritual 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 from major booksellers.
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