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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. This writer is an interspiritual-contemplative Christian. Interspiritual is open to the wisdom and practices of varied faith Paths, and does not see any one Path as the sole means of relationship with the Divine. I hope persons of varied faiths will find inspiration here, and this site can contribute to the unity of faiths in a world that needs religions to be a vital means of healing. 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 please 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 briankwilcox@yahoo.com .
Blessings,
Brian Kenneth Wilcox MDiv, MFT, PhD
Interspiritual-Contemplative Teacher, Author, Workshop Leader,
Spiritual Counselor, and Chaplain.
Meditative Affirmation
The presence of the Divine companions me within and guides me to the persons and choices leading to my peace and fulfillment.
Today's Scripture
5With all your heart
trust the LORD
and not your own judgment.
6Always let the DIVINE lead you,
and that ONE will clear the road
for you to walk in.
*Proverbs 3.5-6, Writer's Translation
Spiritual Teaching
Albert Einstein spoke, “I shall never believe God plays dice with the world.” Well, you are part of the world. You are one with Creation; you are Creation - the I of the Divine eternally and becoming in time-space experientially the I of God.
This is a deep, universal teaching of the Holy Eucharist. The intricate union of matter and spirit, everything as one, is being proven increasingly as science delves deeper into the Universe, from the macrocosm to microcosm. Science and religion are more becoming unified in this search into Reality.
Therefore, if God does not play dice with the world, God, however you understand God, does not play dice with you or me. The Universe, made of Energy, is a single Mind, and each aspect is like a synapse in the intricate communion that is Life. This, too, is a deep meaning of the Body of Christ teaching. Taken from its mythic-tribal meaning, this Body includes all things. The particularity of Christ in time is a sign of a universality in and beyond time.
* * *
In the comedy “Sister Act” (1992), Deloris Van Cartier, played by Whoopi Goldberg, a key witness against a mob figure, is placed in a convent in the witness protection program. Until now she has lived as a Las Vegas lounge singer. The austerity of the convent is a culture shock for Deloris.
The Reverend Mother leads Deloris, given the name Sister Mary Clarence, to her "cell," or room. Deloris is shocked at the lack of furniture. The Reverend Mother explains that the sisters' lives are simple and with few needs. Deloris asks for a phone. The Reverend Mother, knowing Deloris' situation, responds, "Who would you call?"
Finally, Deloris wants to know what she is to do, now. The Reverend Mother tells her that it is 9 PM, so, it is lights out. Deloris is stunned, inquiring, "Are you telling me that we go to bed by 9?" The Reverend Mother proposes that Deloris use her time to think about her life "and its direction, or lack thereof..." This offends Deloris. She informs the Reverend Mother that before she got there her life was fine. "I had a career, I had friends, I had clothing that fit. Before I came here, I was okay." This does not impress the Reverend Mother. She knows that Deloris' "singing career was almost nonexistent, and your married lover wants you dead." She tells Deloris that she is only fooling herself, and explains, "God has brought you here. Take the hint."
Squire Rushnell, in When God Winks: How the Power of Coincidence Guides Your Life, says that to see Divine Providence requires diligence. These “God Winks” we can call Providence, Coincidence, Serendipity, or Synchronicity. Rarely do we experience a “God shout.” Rather, as we examine our lives we can see a thread of apparent happenstance or a sudden, surprising twist in our lives, often at a time of crisis or significant change, often when we are lost as to how to proceed. These Rushnell calls God Winks, in When God Winks and When God Winks on Love: Let the Power of Coincidence Lead You to Love.
* * *
When studying Jungian psychology and coming upon the word synchronicity, that awakened me to trust anew in Divine Providence. Divine Providence is the ways that Spirit cooperates with us to bring us into the situations and with the persons that will bring meaning and purpose to our lives. While I had been taught about Divine Providence, though little, and had read a Scripture full of many examples of Divine Coincidence, Jung helped me begin to see and expect such Providence to permeate my daily experience. I saw that much I had seen as good fortune, accident, or plain good luck was a meaningful part of a pattern being woven into my life, to lead me in and toward the Purpose for my existence on earth.
When I became pastor of SW United Methodist Church, Gainesville, FL, in 2000, it took a number of surprising, unlikely events to get me from Georgia to Florida. The events that “conspired” to get me to Gainesville, not SW UMC, not the Florida Cabinet, not Brian could have dreamed up. Likewise, after six years I could see how Providence worked to get me there and much of the Purpose of my arrival, both for others and myself, though the full Purpose I would never grasp in this life. I see, also, why Spirit kept saying to me, after my arrival, that I was there more for what I needed to be there for than any need of the congregation for me. I was so certain of that Message, that I told the governing board that same thing after my arrival to the congregation.
* * *
The Reverend Mother urged Sister Mary Clarence to “Take the hint.” The “hint” is a God wink. If we do not see these winks throughout daily life, like a divine orchestration, it is only because we are not looking through the eyes that seek to see. Again, we rarely have a God shout. We see these God winks by looking, somewhat like a hunting dog on a trail or a detective gathering and following clues to solve a crime.
Therefore, by cultivating our spiritual senses through daily spiritual practice, we attune ourselves to discern and open to Divine Providence:
14The unspiritual self, just as it is by nature, can't receive the gifts of God's Spirit. There's no capacity for them. They seem like so much silliness. Spirit can be known only by spirit—God's Spirit and our spirits in open communion. 15Spiritually alive, we have access to everything God's Spirit is doing, and can't be judged by unspiritual critics. (I Corinthians 2, The Message)
All right, but what practical implication does this have, day to day? I quote another couple of passages:
16My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness.(Galatians 5.16, The Message)
25Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. (Galatians 5.25, The Message) [Or, If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (KJV)]
* * *
Day by day we can seek to walk in the spirit, for the “spirit” in us can pick up the signals of the “Spirit,” by our being attuned to the Spirit. Then, we can “walk in the Spirit,” not walking against the Spirit.
We can walk in the Spirit, following the Divine hints that come our way, by diligence in discerning how God is working out details that confirm Her Presence and ongoing Purpose, by sensing within ourselves when we feel that our action is going with or against that Purpose, and daily offering a prayer, inviting the Divine Operating with the Universe to bring events together and persons in our path that will help fulfill our divinely-endowed Purpose.
Responding
1.Look at one event in your life in which you can now see that God was working to bring events and persons together in a way that cannot be ascribed, in any way, to being accidental or by chance. Examine this, seeking to discern the varied God winks in the process.
2. For one week, begin each day, with a prayer, somewhat like the following:
Spirit of God, I pray this day, agreeing with You, to bring together those situations, events, and persons that will meet my need and help me fulfill your Purpose for me. I will seek to discern and follow, walk-ing in Your Spirit, to cooperate fully, as best I know how, the direction these hints are leading me.
* * *
*OneLife Ministries is a ministry of Brian Kenneth Wilcox, SW Florida. Brian lives a vowed life and with his two dogs, Bandit Ty and St. Francis, with friends and under a vow of simplicity. Brian is an ecumenical-interspiritual leader, who chooses not to identify with any group, and renounces all titles of sacredness that some would apply to him, but seeks to be open to how Christ manifests in the diversity of Christian denominations and varied religious-spiritual traditions. He affirms that all spiritual paths lead ultimately back to Jesus Christ. 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 briankwilcox@yahoo.com . Also, Brian is on Facebook: search Brian Kenneth Wilcox.
*Contact the above email to book Brian for preaching, Spiritual Direction, retreats, workshops, animal blessing services, house blessings, or other spiritual requests. You can order his book An Ache for Union from major booksellers.
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