Freedom from the internet

Seth Godin turned me onto Freedom in which you can voluntarily lock yourself out of the internet.

I am thinking this is a great little habit to get into....

GOOD - Why we cannot walk straight

I ran across this little animation on GOOD. While this is a bit of a 'silly' mystery of the human brain, I think it is something for which one could easily use as an illustration as to our spiritual sides as well.


A Mystery: Why Can't We Walk Straight? from NPR on Vimeo.

Christians hold the community of God (not the Bible) as our frame of reference. We worship a living God not a book. It is not a coincidence that in his inaugural sermon, Jesus declared he came to give sight to the blind and release the captives. For the Christian, it is Jesus who sets us free to see so that we might walk straight.

We are not perfect and we still walk off the straight path. It seems to happen when we are looking at Jesus and nothing else. Just as we need a reference point to walk straight, we also need to look at the path and the context around us to not step on anyone else as we walk.

I share this with you and ask, what is your reference point that keeps you walking straight?

Prayer - Baptism of our Lord

In you God we find our not only our comfort but you are the very source of life of which we depend on each and every day.  We come with bowed head and humbled hearts in order to die to ourselves and be made new in your Holy Spirit.  At least that is what we think we want.  God, we confess this day that perhaps we do not really desire to be made new and walk in your ways because we have given our lives to the god of our ego.  We confess that we seek for ways in which the church can serve us or feed us all the while forgetting that Jesus called the church into existence in order to serve and feed others.  We build our relationship with you Holy God like we build relationships with our neighbor.  That is often times, we think of you as just a really nice person who grants wishes if you whenever you feel inclined to do so.  And when we think of you in this way we then think that being Christian is being a really nice citizen who does nice things for people when we feel inclined to do so.  We confess that we may not have any real clue on what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.  We confess that even if we discover what being a disciple means we may not choose to live into that life of self sacrifice and community.  We confess that we talk the religious talk, do some pious things and all the while we put our trust, our faith, in other things.  So if there is anything that may happen today may we be convicted to see where our hearts reside and if we are willing to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.

We pray this day not just on our own behalf but for the concerns and thanksgivings for the world.  Where there is pain let there be Grace; where there is suffering bring serenity; for those afraid help them be brave; where there is misery bring expectancy; where there is captivity bring liberation; where there is despair let there be hope.  For surely if there is any Good in this world – let that Good shine through all of us so we might be embodiments of Love.  We join the great cloud of witnesses, past and present as we pray Our Father...