Spirituality

Provided in concert with SHWS and HWS Ministries, Ltd. an Interfaith Ministry founded in 1991. 

Prayer for Peace: 'I offer you peace. I offer you love. I offer you friendship. I see your beauty. I hear your need. I feel your feelings. My wisdom flows from the Highest Source. I salute that Source in you. Let us work together for unity and love.' - Mahatma Gandhi 

Health Ministries - Health ministry in a local congregation is an intentional ministry focusing on both healing and health, combining the ancient traditions of the Christian community and the knowledge and tools of modern health care.

The mission given disciples is to preach, teach and heal, with teaching and preaching have far exceeded her healing in this day. The need to be true to the calling and the opportunity in this modern age to use many tools to bring about health and healing.

There is a significant need for the church to address health issues. The current health care system in the United States doesn't focus on health; it is primarily disease oriented. Too often it isn't a cohesive, holistic system; it's fragmented and enormously expensive. The church, on the other hand, is in the business of healing, of making whole, and of doing it in community. The local congregation is a place where health professionals and lay people can work together to keep people well, to empower and educate, to advocate for health and to care for people in need.

Health ministry is often, though not exclusively, led and coordinated by a parish nurse. Health ministry looks different from congregation to congregation, reflecting the needs, interests and resources of the faith community. Health ministry does not replicate services that already exist in the community, but rather works with community partners and resources.

Health ministry is a living witness of the healing activity of God through the local congregation, encouraging whole-person health through: · integration of body, mind and spirit, increased self-knowledge, personal responsibility, and interdependence among God's people. 

A health ministry can promote healing and health as wholeness, as a mission in a community of faith to its members and the communities it serves. This takes a variety of people, paid and volunteer, laity and clergy, all committed to sharing compassionate love and grace.  (from by Barbara T. Baylor, MPH, CHES, Minister for Health and Wellness Programs, UCC)

The Interfaith Center, Life Spirit Center, St. Joseph Family Center, Monastery of St. Gertrude, Christians For The Mountains, Sisters of St. Francis and more here

Eye of God from the Hubble Space Telescope

"..., we are spiritual beings having a human experience."  

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's last words reaffirm his belief that the Universe is centered evolutionarily on the Above and the Ahead, and that the Christ is the Capstone of Evolution gathering all humanity through Noogenesis toward Christogenesis and ultimate convergence at the Omega point "so that God may be all in all".

A VISION OF FIRE - from The Evolution of Chastity by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
- The day will come when after harnessing the ether, the winds, the tides, gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And on that day for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.

Words from a Lakota Elder: "...religion is for those (people) who are afraid of hell. Spirituality is for those who have been to hell..."

from Lenny Bruce - "Every day people are straying away from church and going back to God."  

Message from the Hopi Elders

More from the Elders

Prayer is the greatest power on earth:  Prayer & Healing Requests

Remember the parable of the fig tree in Matthew 21:21: Matthew tells us that Jesus came to a fig tree that had no fruit on it and said, "May no fruit come from you again." Matthew says the fig tree withered at once. And he said, "Master, how did this happen how did the fig tree wither so quickly?" and Jesus said, "If you have faith and do not doubt not only can you do what was done to the fig tree but if you say to this mountain be cast into the sea it will happen." So think positively and have faith in yourself and God.

Psalms for Healing Prayer - 

• Psalms said for illness, in troubled times and as protection against harm in perilous situations:
  4, 6, 7, 9, 13, 16-18, 20, 23, 25, 27, 29-33, 37-39, 41, 42, 49, 51, 55, 56, 69, 81, 85, 86, 91, 94, 100, 102-105, 107, 109, 110, 116, 118, 119, 121, 128, 130, 142, 143

• Psalms said to express gratitude for good fortune:
  17, 18, 23, 33, 42, 63, 65, 68, 70-72, 104, 105, 108, 114, 124, 136, 145-150

• Psalms said when visiting the gravesite of a loved one:
  25, 34, 111, 112, 119, 120, 122-135, 144-150 

Psalms: 

• 6 for bone disease, 

• 13 for stroke and nervous disorders, 

• 14 for high temperature and heart disease, 

• 16 for Kidney, 

• 17 for mental illness, 

• 30 for sorrow afflicting the physical body, 

• 36 for pain, 

• 38 for burns and injuries, 

• 55 for suicidal tendency and fear, 

• 77 for insomnia, 78 for epidemics, 

• 102 for leukemia and loss of appetite, 

• 114 and 115 Eyes, ears, nose, hands and feet, 

• 124 blood disease.

About Thomas - The first-century Gospel of Thomas, discovered with the Nag Hammadi treasury of early Christian writings, with an eye to showing how a given text comes to be sorted into the "heretical" or "canonical" pile. The case of Thomas is particularly instructive: Thomas’s Christ is a sort of Zen saint who, quite unlike the practical and sometimes impatient messiah of the four approved gospels, answers his disciples’ questions with koans along the lines of, "Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate; for all things are plain in the sight of heaven" and "The Kingdom is inside you, and outside you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will see that it is you who are the children of the living Father."

Religion is not merely an assent to a set of beliefs, but a rich, multifaceted fabric of teachings and experiences that connect us with the divine.

Thomas offered readers a message of spiritual enlightenment. Rather than promoting Jesus as the only light of the world, Thomas taught individuals that "there is a light within each person, and it lights up the whole universe. If it does not shine, there is darkness."

Thomas, by contrast, finds in Christ a case for divinity that lies within each believer: "God's light shines not only in Jesus but, potentially at least, in everyone."

"The point is that you have to learn how to forgive in order to get home."

RELIGION vs SPIRITUALITY from Enlightenment On-Line

With all the news of fanatic fundamentalist suicide bombers, pedophile priests, and millionaire media ministers, religion is getting a bad name these days. In fact, we may be witnessing the beginning of the end of the religious age. Not to worry though, because simultaneously, a spiritual world is emerging. This transmutation from dying religions to living spirituality is part of humanity's coming-of-age. We can now remove the training wheels of doctrine and ride ahead on our own innate, awakened wisdom. Let's look at the difference between 

• RELIGION tells us what to think, inherited or adopted beliefs, prescribed dogma, external, authority, heirarchy, group identity (substitute ego), church, rules, acceptance

• SPIRITUALITY shows us how to know, real-time experience, practiced insight, internal, self-navigating, unity, transpersonal (non-ego), teacher, examples, realization

In the future which I look forward to, people will be recognized for their intentions and conduct, not their affiliations with established institutions. We will be consciously living in spirit, instead of reading, talking or praying for it. Every day will be a sacred Sabbath, every season as holy as Christmas. As a rainbow is greater than the colors that comprise it, our unity will be seen as much more significant than any differences conceived in the minds of men, living or dead. And never again will demagogues, gurus, sanctimonious priests or angry ayatollahs be able to co-op the allegiance of masses of naive "believers" for their own less-than-enlightened purposes. In spiritual maturity, we naturally see through "religious" abuses, and become the guiding lights we previous sought in others. - LJB

From Robert Thurman - A sense of the inner freedom, the literal lightening up, becomes possible as we begin to understand that we are all participants in an "infinite life." The concept of related transcendent virtues includes wisdom, generosity, justice, patience, creativity, contemplation and making art in the service of others. The larger truth is that true enlightenment-true awakening to the infinite-is never an escape from life but a state of awareness and compassion for other living beings. Among the riches offered  is the insight that we do not become faceless blobs as we realize our selflessness and the infinite nature of our lives but true individualists. Liberated from a fear of death and isolation, confident that we are in a long-term relationship with life that can never be severed, we can begin to help ourselves and others to happiness.

"Beginninglessness" (all sentient beings have experienced infinite pasts and will experience infinite futures) is the first lesson toward enabling the art of "infinite living."

Mother Teresa: 

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it. Life is beauty, admire it. Life is bliss, taste it. Life is a dream, realize it. Life is a challenge, meet it. Life is a duty, complete it. Life is a game, play it. Life is a promise, fulfill it. Life is sorrow, overcome it. Life is a song, sing it. Life is a struggle, accept it. Life is a tragedy, confront it. Life is an adventure, dare it. Life is luck, make it. Life is too precious, do not destroy it. Life is life, fight for it.

Suggested reading -

William Blake, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, Spirituality: What It Is By Kirpal Singh 

The Prayers of the Cosmos (a book) by Neil Douglas Klotz

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Relaxation, Sahaja Yoga, Project Prosperity, For Inspiration, Tibetan Buddhist Center