Silent Renewal

Posted on August 4, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by bellatomarco from Pixabay

“What we plant in the soil of contemplation, we shall reap in the harvest of action.” – Meister Eckhart

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Listen to my song “Turn Off the Noise” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

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Matthew 14:23

Jesus went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When it was evening he was there alone.

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After Jesus fed the thousands, he sent his disciples off on a boat to their next destination of ministry.

But Jesus did not go yet.

First, he “went up on the mountain by himself to pray.”

Jesus withdrew from the fray – the active ministry where he had poured himself out – so he could refuel.

Alone with God on the mountain, he could be refilled.

This is the crucial and necessary part of, not only ministry, but life!

Unfortunately, this facet of prayer is so often neglected.

Many are not even aware of it.

In my upbringing, I was not taught about contemplative prayer but only rote prayer, the ones we recited.

Telling God what’s on your mind and heart is a good thing, but perhaps the most important thing is that we be silent and listen.

You may recall that when the disciples asked Jesus to instruct them on how to pray, he told them to go to their “inner room”, to “close the door”, and pray to God “in secret” (Matthew 6:6).

This is a way of practicing the method of living that Jesus demonstrated and preached about.

It’s the path of self-emptying or kenosis.

It’s the practice of losing your life to find your life (Matthew 10:39).

It’s letting go and letting God.

(Centering Prayer is a wonderful Christian practice of meditation that I highly recommend.)

It was from this place of letting go, that Jesus was refreshed and sent forth on the next step in his ministry.

Are you setting aside time for silent, self-emptying prayer?

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Listen to the song of the day “Turn Off the Noise” on the Listen to Your Heart album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Remember: God loves you!

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Be Not Afraid

Posted on August 3, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by Dimitris Vetsikas from Pixabay

Life is a series of dyings and risings.

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Listen to my song “Come to Jesus” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

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Matthew 14:30-31

But when Peter saw how strong the wind was he became frightened; and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

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We’ve all experienced the storms of life.

They come over and over, some more severe than others.

Sometimes we are required to take a leap of faith and step out of the boat like Peter.

There’s no turning back.

Either you stay where you are in turmoil, or you take proactive measures.

This is the pattern of life.

There are valleys and mountaintops.

There are storms, but they always give way to sunshine and rainbows.

The elephant in the room is the fear of death.

What if we knew that death was not final?

Well, that is our faith!

Jesus showed us that dying and rising is how the universe works.

All things go from birth to life to decline to death – but then the cycle begins again.

Just look at the leaves on a tree which fall to the ground in autumn and then become part of the earth again, helping to fertilize the ground for new growth in the spring.

Jesus showed us that all of life is a lesson in letting go, a time to practice losing your life so you can find your life.

When we let go of our ego’s desires, we start to find God’s desires for us.

The struggle is a time of rebirth.

Jesus also showed us that physical death is not the end but another beginning.

I have met several people who have had what is known as the “Near Death Experience.”

I’ve read about many others.

These people are witnesses who tell us there is nothing to fear in death.

Love and light await us.

We are all part of God’s epic and unfolding creation story.

We come from Love and will return to Love.

Step out of the boat and know that the hand of Jesus is just an arms-length away.

That is really Good News!

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Listen to the song of the day “Come to Jesus” on the Live to Love album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Remember: God loves you!

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Listen to Your Heart

Posted on July 31, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay

“People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.” Kent M. Keith

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Listen to my song “Listen to Your Heart” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

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Matthew 13:54-57

Jesus came to his native place and taught the people in their synagogue. They were astonished and said, “Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds? Is he not the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother named Mary and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? Are not his sisters all with us? Where did this man get all this?” And they took offense at him.

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Jesus inspired many people with his words and actions.

He continues to do so today.

But many people also turned on him.

His words calling for equal treatment of all, his reaching out to the so-called sinners, his standing up to injustice with non-violence – this did not go over well with many.

Among the people who took offense at him were the people closest to him.

The people from his home town basically said, “Who does he think he is?”

We all grow and change.

Even Jesus from boyhood “advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man” (Luke 2:52).

Change is the mark of growth.

When Jesus said at the beginning of his ministry: “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15), he was telling all people to change directions (repent).

Turn away from the way you are living.

Stop seeking fulfillment in self-centered ways, and instead seek the community of mutual care and empowerment (kingdom of God).

Come together and care for all people – meaning especially the least of these (Matthew 25).

When we do this, we have to let go of a me-centered existence, and change to an other-centered existence.

Each of us is called to do this in the unique ways that only each of us can do it in our human experience.

The time to do it is now!

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Listen to the song of the day “Listen to Your Heart” on the Listen to Your Heart album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Remember: God loves you!

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Death to Life

Posted on July 30, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by thomasgitarre from Pixabay

Each of us is in a continual process of renewal.

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Listen to my song “Love Will Always Lead You Home” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

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Jeremiah 18:6

Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand.

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The prophet Jeremiah says that the word of God came to him instructing him to go to a “potter’s house” where he would receive another communication.

Jeremiah saw the potter working with a vessel of clay, forming it, and whenever it turned out badly, the potter simply reworked the clay into another vessel.

And that’s when Jeremiah heard the message in today’s scripture verse.

We are all works in progress.

And when we seemingly break down, there is a Force at work that helps reform us.

We are in a perpetual pattern of dying and rising.

(So is the whole universe!)

We should not judge any of these patterns as ultimately bad because there is a Higher Power making it all good.

As St. Paul stated: “We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

And as it says elsewhere in scripture, “Behold, I make all things new” (Revelation 21:5).

There is rebirth always in the making.

It’s part of God’s creative plan across all of creation.

We are all part of this.

But to be the most effective in doing our unique part, we would do well to take a lesson from Jeremiah.

We must listen for our instructions that come ever so quietly in our hearts when we are being attentive.

Create contemplative space in your life through a meditative practice such as Centering Prayer.

As St. John of the Cross said back in the 1500’s: “Silence is God’s first language.”

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Listen to the song of the day “Love Will Always Lead You Home” on the Mercy Reigns album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Remember: God loves you!

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Wholemaker

Posted on July 29, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by Yuri_B from Pixabay

“The foundation of existence is not mere being (what is) but relationality (what is becoming): union is always toward more being.” Ilia Delio

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Listen to my song “All Are One” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

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Psalm 59:2-3

Rescue me from my enemies, my God; lift me out of reach of my foes. Deliver me from evildoers; from the bloodthirsty save me.

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So many times we look out at the world and separate what we see into the good and the bad.

These are the good people, and these are the bad people.

Black or white.

That simple.

The only problem is: it isn’t that simple.

There are a lot of gray areas in life.

Sure, there are times when we need to say this is good and this is bad or we’d step from the curb into speeding traffic.

Children especially need definite boundaries on what’s acceptable and what’s not.

But when we grow up, the lines get blurry.

We saw Jesus side against the religious law when compassion demanded it (Matthew 12:1-8).

We also know that many seem to define themselves by what they are against.

They seem to love choosing enemies so that they have a reason for living. How sad!

Love is the reason for living as Jesus quite obviously taught us (Matthew 22:36-40).

He even explicitly demanded that we love our enemies (Matthew 5:44)!

This is a direct teaching that, I’m sorry to say, most Christians seem to ignore.

Jesus knew that we are actually one body.

St. Paul came to know this as well: “For as in one body we have many parts, and all the parts do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually parts of one another” (Romans 12:4-5).

When we purposely separate ourselves from others, or say hateful things about them, we are opposing what God wants.

God wants all people to love each other.

This is the way that the “kingdom of God” comes alive.

But the Aramaic word that Jesus used that was translated as “kingdom” really has nothing to do with kings.

It is not about “power over” but “power with” others.

It’s the place of mutual empowerment, where all work together for the good.

This is what Jesus told us to “seek first” (Matthew 6:33).

It starts with you and me.

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Listen to the song of the day “All Are One” on the Mercy Reigns album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Remember: God loves you!

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Let Go and Live

Posted on July 28, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by David Mark from Pixabay

Death to life is an ongoing cycle of God’s creative plan.

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Listen to my song “Make Your Way” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

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Jeremiah 14:19

Why have you struck us a blow that cannot be healed? We wait for peace, to no avail; for a time of healing, but terror comes instead.

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Do the words of the prophet Jeremiah resonate with you?

Have we not all whined to God about the bad situations we find ourselves in?

Have we not all asked the age old question: Why do bad things happen to good people?

I do not believe God is doing anything to us.

God is love (1 John 4:8), remember?

But we know from living our life and looking at history that bad things do indeed happen.

The people of the Old Testament thought that God was behind all the bad and good things.

But if you look at how creation has unfolded based on what we know through science, death and rebirth is at the heart of God’s cycle of creativity.

Ever since the so-called Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago, the universe has unfolded from a tiny point.

A process of death-to-rebirth-to-death-to-rebirth began and has not ceased.

Throughout, there has been increasing complexity and wholeness, as the universe expanded and life on Earth diversified and multiplied.

We, as human beings, are able to be conscious of not only ourselves but of being a part of this ongoing creation.

We are able to contemplate a Creator.

As the great Jesuit scientist, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin stated, “Our duty, as men and women, is to proceed as if limits to our ability did not exist. We are collaborators in creation.”

Yes, collaborators!

But we, too, must take part in the cycle of death to life, death to life.

Jesus showed us that we must die to our ego-selves (lose your life) so that our true selves can rise (to find your life).

As he put it, “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:35).

The life meant for you comes by participating in the great Flow of God’s creative plan.

All struggles and “little deaths” we go through lead to new life…even the “big death” at the end of our earthly existence.

Life is then transformed and goes on. Jesus showed us this.

Each of us is part of a grand, unfolding creation.

There is no reason to fear.

Love wins.

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Listen to the song of the day “Make Your Way” on the Mercy Reigns album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Remember: God loves you!

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Open to Change

Posted on July 27, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by Mircea Iancu from Pixabay

Let go, listen, and allow Love to guide your words and actions.

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Listen to my song “Mercy Reigns” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

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Matthew 13:33

Jesus spoke to them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.”

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Jesus often spoke of the “kingdom of heaven” or the “kingdom of God.”

He wasn’t speaking of a reward down the road when you die.

He was talking about now.

Jesus’s hope was that we would all take part in the process by which this “kingdom of heaven” would become present.

As he prayed to God in what is known as The Lord’s Prayer: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

But this kingdom comes under the radar.

As Jesus also said, “The coming of the kingdom of God cannot be observed, and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’ For behold, the kingdom of God is among you” (Luke 17:20-21).

It is like yeast secretly working on the wheat flour until it is leavened.

So how do we cooperate in this unfolding of the kingdom of God?

Jesus gave us the answer.

When a scribe agreed with Jesus that the greatest commandments were to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself, Jesus told him: “You are not far from the kingdom of God” (Mark 12:34).

Love is the answer.

When you love, it is about God’s kingdom and not your kingdom.

It means dying to self (ego).

It’s about acting in love each moment of your life, especially when it’s hard.

You cannot love people by ridiculing them, belittling them, cheating them, physically hurting them…much less killing them.

Each of us must grapple with this as to how we live, how we vote, how we speak, what we support and who we support.

I have to let this philosophy inform everything I do.

This has completely overhauled and refashioned my life, and continues to do so.

What about you?

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Listen to the song of the day “Mercy Reigns” on the Mercy Reigns album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Remember: God loves you!

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Persevere

Posted on July 24, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by Holger Schué from Pixabay

Stay grounded in love and experience transformation.

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Listen to my song “God’s Love Is All You Need” on YouTube by clicking HERE

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Matthew 13:20-21

“The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away.”

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Jesus’s main message was that God loved all people unconditionally.

This message was well received by those on the margins of society – all those who were being persecuted by the Roman Empire.

These people were thirsting for good news.

But while this news is so welcome, it’s also hard to believe.

That’s because human beings usually model a very conditional kind of love.

And it’s also because there is so much turmoil that pops up in life.

When it does, many times we succumb to the false narrative that God really doesn’t love us or that God has abandoned us.

Struggles are part of our human experience.

People have free will and nature can take its course with little compassion.

But love is a force that cannot be defeated.

It is what carries us through the ups and downs.

And when we experience this, our life is transformed.

As St. Paul said, “We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

If God is love (1 John 4:8) and this Love is the life-blood of the universe, then what is there to truly fear?

As St. Paul also said, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

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Listen to the song of the day “God’s Love Is All You Need” on the Listen to Your Heart album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Remember: God loves you!

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Eternal Banquet

Posted on July 23, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by David Mark from Pixabay

“The most telling and profound way of describing the evolution of the universe would undoubtedly be to trace the evolution of love.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

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Listen to my song “May I Be Light” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

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Psalm 36:9-10

They feast on the rich food of your house; from your delightful stream you give them drink. For with you is the fountain of life, and in your light we see light.

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God is the source of all.

How can we capture the ineffable mystery of God in a three-letter word?

Impossible!

But we know that there is a Loving Source from which everything flows in wondrous creativity.

The universe has been a creative project unfolding for the last 13.8 billion years, at least that’s when science estimates there was a “Big Bang.”

We humans are in synergy with all other life forms here on Earth, an amazing orb teeming with life.

Our planet is also a tiny speck in the vast expanse of space which is illuminated by 200 billion to two trillion galaxies.

The Source of it all is Love (1 John 4:8).

Unfortunately, many humans live in the delusion of self-serving egos which create divisions and suffering.

Jesus gave us the model for living a life connected to the Source of Love and showed us that life poured out in love does not end but is transformed.

And life poured out in daily service transforms each moment into what Jesus called the kingdom of God.

There is no final death.

Death always leads to life.

That is good news indeed and reason to celebrate!

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Listen to the song of the day “May I Be Light” on the Listen to Your Heart album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Remember: God loves you!

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Feast of St. Mary Magdalene

Posted on July 22, 2020 by billtonnis

She became known as “apostle to the apostles.”

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Listen to my song “Glorify You with Me” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

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John 20:16-17

Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” which means Teacher. Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

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Mary Magdalene was present with Jesus throughout his ministry and was no doubt in his inner circle.

Many bible scholars believe that Mary was the woman who anointed Jesus with oil at Bethany as told in the Gospel of Mark. This is when Jesus stated, “She has anticipated anointing my body for burial. Amen, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed to the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”

But sadly, it has not.

That story and pretty much everything else Mary was connected to in Jesus’ ministry has been diminished.

She was eventually labeled a prostitute and for hundreds of years her reputation was besmirched. It wasn’t until 1969 that the Church admitted that there was no basis for supporting that.

July 22nd is now considered Mary Magdalene’s feast day.

In truth, the fact that Mary is mentioned by name numerous times in the canonical gospels, when most women are not, speaks volumes of her importance.

She was at the cross when Jesus died, and was there when he was buried.

According to the Gospel of Mark, Mary Magdalene and two other women returned to the tomb, buying spices so that they might go and anoint Jesus (Mark 16:1). The anointing ministry was likely one of Mary’s gifts.

The gospels say Mary was the first to experience the risen Christ and the first to tell the Good News.

Other gospels have since been uncovered that depict Mary as an apostle and the one who truly understood Jesus’s teachings.

But those gospels as well as her importance were all dismissed.

In my opinion, we need to revisit this and celebrate her significance anew!

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Listen to the song of the day “Glorify You with Me” on the Give Praise and Thanks album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Remember: God loves you!

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