Bring Hope

Posted on July 7, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by Uce from Pixabay

“Be human in the most inhuman of ages.” – Thomas Merton, Raids on the Unspeakable

+++

Listen to my song “I Want to Follow You” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

+++

Matthew 9:36

At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.

+++

The people following Jesus were not the “in” crowd.

They were not the ones on top in society.

They were “troubled and abandoned.”

These were the types of people that Jesus drew and also the people that Jesus chose to be with – the ones who were not popular.

Who are the troubled, abandoned, rejected, left-out, and unpopular ones today?

Those are the ones Jesus wants to be with.

Those are the ones the followers of Jesus are called to be with.

This directive should be the criteria by which we vote, shop, and live every aspect of our lives.

When we look upon such people, are we moved with pity, or perhaps a better word would be empathy?

Or, do we ridicule and judge?

Being a Christian is far from easy.

As G.K. Chesterton once said: “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.”

+++

Listen to the song of the day “I Want to Follow You” 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!

Posted in inspiration, spirituality, Today's Contemplation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Agape

Posted on July 6, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by RÜŞTÜ BOZKUŞ from Pixabay

“Our duty…is to proceed as if limits to our ability did not exist. We are collaborators in creation.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

+++

Listen to my song “How Magnificent, Wondrous and Glorious” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

+++

Psalm 145:9

The LORD is good to all, compassionate toward all your works.

+++

Do you believe that?

Or do you see God as a judgmental tyrant?

I’m sorry to say that I have met many older folks through my ministry who are quite afraid of God.

They were taught that God was watching their every move and that for every infraction they would suffer the consequences.

But I thought God was love (1 John 4:8)?

I thought Jesus was the face of God (John 14:7)?

He said, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meet and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

Jesus specifically likened God to the father in the parable of the prodigal son, who welcomes the son back home without any questions after he had squandered his inheritance in debauchery.

Then, the father threw that son a party.

God is the Source of everything that is.

And everything that is…is evolving in a Creative Flow of dying and rising.

Each of us, and all creation, is part of this magnificent, ongoing, unfolding project of love.

Isn’t it glorious!

+++

Listen to the song of the day “How Magnificent, Wondrous and Glorious” 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!

Posted in inspiration, spirituality, Today's Contemplation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Healers Needed

Posted on July 3, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

You Belong — and so does everyone else.

+++

As part of the following reflection, listen to my song “Mercy Reigns” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

+++

Ephesians 2:19

So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God.

+++

The same person who believed that all people are members of the household of God had at one time been persecuting and terrorizing Christians in the name of God.

After his conversion, Paul became one of the most zealous proclaimers of the gospel.

And what he preached was that we are truly in this together.

Paul put it this way: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

Paul knew that there were no divisions in God’s eyes.

And yet humans continue to separate and divide, and even worse – demonize those who look or think differently.

Those who do this are living in a delusion of separation.

Where are the peacemakers?

Where are the people calling out the injustices being done to the least of these?

Where are the ones trying to heal divisions?

They are indeed out there.

There are people working to erase the lines of division and to uplift those who are being persecuted.

We need more of them.

Will you listen to the call?

+++

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!

Posted in inspiration, spirituality, Today's Contemplation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Awaken

Posted on July 2, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

“There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.” – Thomas Merton

+++

As part of the following reflection, listen to my song “The Way You Are” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

+++

Matthew 9:5-7

Jesus said, “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk?’ But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” – he then said to the paralytic, “Rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.” He rose and went home.

+++

For Jesus, the most important thing that he could do for the paralyzed man was to convince him that he was unconditionally loved by God.

We all tend to carry a lot of shame and guilt around with us over past mistakes.

Those mistakes, no matter how egregious they were, do not change the eternal truth that each of us is infinitely loved by God.

This is hard for us to get into our heads because many if not most of us do treat love as a quid pro quo deal.

We are conditioned to believe we must earn God’s love.

For Jesus, this unacceptable.

Just look at the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), or the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11), and you’ll understand that Jesus wanted us to see the face of a loving and forgiving God.

That doesn’t mean our so-called “sins” don’t have consequences as they surely do.

Just look at the consequences that the prodigal son and the woman caught in adultery inflicted upon themselves through their actions.

Hurting others through choosing your own egocentric and selfish desires will disorient you in the delusion that you are separate from God, the Sacred Unity of all things.

In this delusion, your true self will be in anguish.

That is because you would be estranged from your soul’s purpose: to live in the creative uniqueness that only you can do.

Each of us has a part in the unfolding, evolutionary creative plan.

So, the most important thing for the paralyzed man was that he realized his belovedness in God.

Once he was fully conscious of his unimpeded connection with the Loving Source of all, his physical healing manifested through Jesus’ healing presence.

Do you realize your belovedness in God?

Live in conscious union with the Love that created you!

+++

Listen to the song of the day “The Way You Are” 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!

Posted in inspiration, spirituality, Today's Contemplation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Love Changes Everything

Posted on July 1, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by Florian Pircher from Pixabay

Allow the path of compassion to transform you.

+++

As part of today’s reflection, listen to my song “Make Me a Channel” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

+++

Amos 5:14

Seek good and not evil, that you may live.

+++

Seems a pretty simple thing to do, doesn’t it?

Sometimes it’s obvious what is the good thing and what is the evil thing – but not always.

Sometimes life hands us tough choices.

If you live long enough, you will be dragged out into the gray areas…the places beyond black and white answers.

It’s easy today to get caught up in our political or religious agendas.

Of course, each of us usually thinks that I am right and the other side is wrong.

I am not immune to that experience.

Let’s go to Jesus for a little advice.

Jesus said the two greatest commandments are to love God with your whole heart, soul and mind and to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:36-40).

To love is the most important thing.

And don’t forget that Jesus also said to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Matthew 5:44).

And then there’s the Sermon on the Mount, also known as the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12), where he says blessed are the merciful and the peacemakers.

When we wish to do what is good, we would do well to filter our decisions through these teachings.

(They have wreaked havoc on the opinions and agendas of my younger days.)

If we lived by Jesus’ teachings, our actions would allow justice to surge like waters, and goodness like an unfailing stream (Amos 5:24).

After all, that is what God is doing in the evolving and ongoing plan of creation.

Aligning ourselves with the Flow of Goodness is truly having life to the full.

+++

Listen to the song of the day “Make Me a Channel” 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” by clicking HERE.

Remember: God loves you!

Posted in inspiration, spirituality, Today's Contemplation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Presence

Posted on June 30, 2020 by billtonnis

Take a deep breath, be still, and know a peace beyond understanding.

+++

Listen to the song of the day “I Will Give You Rest” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

+++

Matthew 8:24-25

Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by waves; but Jesus was asleep. They came and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”

+++

Isn’t this how life is sometimes?

A “violent storm” can suddenly hit.

Someone close to you dies.

Someone is badly injured.

Someone is stricken with a serious illness.

You lose your job.

Your wife wants a divorce.

You find out your husband has been cheating on you.

When the storms come, many times we react with great emotion.

“Oh God, save me! This is too much to bear!”

But, in today’s scripture, note that Jesus was sleeping peacefully midst the storm.

When his followers awaken him, Jesus tells them: “Why are you terrified, O you of little faith? (Matthew 8:26)”

And then there was a great calm.

There is a Great Love that holds us.

We are anchored to this Sacred Unity.

We are one with it.

But the delusion of our separation from this Oneness causes us great pain.

Jesus was always consciously connected to God.

He spent his share of nights in prayer on the mountain where he practiced going to his inner room and closing the door (Matthew 6:6) so he could pray in silence.

Jesus was grounded in this foundation of Love.

That is how he could die on a cross while forgiving those who killed him, and say, “Not my will, but yours be done (Luke 22:42).”

We all can follow Jesus’ example of praying in his inner room by practicing some form of contemplative prayer.

My preference is Centering Prayer.

The more you do this, the more calm you will experience midst the storms of life and the stronger your connection will be with the Love that grounds all beingness.

+++

Listen to the song of the day “I Will Give You Rest” 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!

Posted in inspiration, spirituality, Today's Contemplation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Be of Service

Posted on June 29, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by DarkWorkX from Pixabay

May our lives be a “yes” to God’s all-inclusive loving plan.

+++

Listen to my song “Pour Me Out” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

+++

2 Timothy 4:6

For I am already being poured out like a libation, and the time of my departure is at hand.

+++

St. Paul had come a long way from when he was known as Saul.

He had been one of the fiercest persecutors of Christians, leading them in chains to imprisonment and even to their deaths.

He actually believed he was doing God’s work!

But after some type of mystical encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, Saul’s life took a radical turn.

He would later become known as Paul, one of the most zealous proclaimers of Christianity.

Paul realized that his life was not about amassing more, but in self-emptying.

Speaking of Jesus, Paul said: “Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself” (Philippians 2:6-7).

It was in letting go of his ego’s desires, dying to himself, that his true self would emerge.

As Jesus said, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39).

Paul followed Jesus on this self-emptying path knowing that he would be transformed in the process.

As he put it, “I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:19-20).

This new way of life led Paul to see that all divisions were delusions.

All people were equally loved by God.

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

When Paul saw that his execution was near, he was able to compare his life to a libation – a drink poured out as an offering to God.

May we all offer our lives in the service of love, justice and God’s creative plan.

+++

Listen to the song of the day “Pour Me Out” 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!

Posted in inspiration, spirituality, Today's Contemplation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Whole-Maker

Posted on June 26, 2020 by billtonnis
Photo from Pinterest

Be a restorer, not a divider (which will take courage and truth).

+++

Listen to my song “I Stand in the Light” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

+++

Matthew 8:1-3

When Jesus came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. And then a leper approached, did him homage, and said, “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.” He stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I will do it. Be made clean.” His leprosy was cleansed immediately.

+++

At this point in Jesus’ ministry, “great crowds followed him.”

But just so we know that it wasn’t about being popular or being a celebrity, Jesus allows a leper to approach him.

At the time, someone with leprosy (or similar disease) would be “unclean” and therefore an outcast.

Anyone who would touch such a person would also be “unclean.”

It would be very unpopular for Jesus to associate himself with the leper.

Not just unpopular but scandalous.

But he doesn’t stay in the comfort zone of the majority.

Jesus stretches out his hand, just so no one could miss it, and touches the man.

Jesus not only restores the man’s health but restores him to community.

Jesus was about making wholes.

He was about restoration.

That’s because Jesus knew that we all spring from the One, the Divine Unity.

As he stated: “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

Jesus also said that God is the “vine grower” (John 15:1).

Life and creativity all flow from the One, the Great Love of all.

So, stay consciously connected to the One, the Giver of Life and all that is.

You can do that now…and now…and now.

Be a whole-maker too.

+++

Listen to the song of the day “I Stand in the Light” 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!

Posted in inspiration, spirituality, Today's Contemplation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Walk the Talk

Posted on June 25, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by lauwahyuen from Pixabay

Beliefs without accompanying acts of compassion and social justice are empty.

+++

Listen to my song “I Want to Follow You” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

+++

Matthew 7:26-27

“Everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”

+++

Jesus taught his followers many things:

Love your neighbor as yourself;

Love your enemies;

Feed the hungry;

Welcome the stranger;

Whatever you did to the least of these, you did to me;

Forgive an infinite number of times;

Blessed are the peacemakers; etc.

What good are all these words of Jesus if the person who hears them doesn’t act on them?

As it also says in scripture: “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17).

Just hearing Jesus’ words, going to church and practicing rituals makes no impact on the world.

Such a life would be like the house built on sand.

But for a person who hears Jesus’ words and actually lives them, that person’s life would be like the house built on solid ground.

It would make a lasting impact.

+++

Listen to the song of the day “I Want to Follow You” 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!

Posted in inspiration, spirituality, Today's Contemplation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Now Is Our Time

Posted on June 24, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

+++

Listen to my song “Pour Me Out” on YouTube 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” by clicking HERE.

+++

Isaiah 49:4

Though I thought I had toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength, yet my reward is with the LORD, my recompense is with my God.

+++

For prophets, there was little reward in outcomes.

The masses usually turned on them and many times killed them.

They did the same to Jesus.

They did the same to many of Jesus’ followers.

I’m sure that’s why Jesus assured his followers that they would be persecuted.

Those who toil in the trenches for the oppressed know that they can’t rely on rewards from the powers that be.

Their rewards will be in the eternal realm, the realm of the eternal love of God.

Martin Luther King, Jr. comes to mind.

Abraham Lincoln comes to mind.

Medgar Evers comes to mind.

Archbishop Oscar Romero comes to mind.

Perhaps the oppression and the killing will come to an end one glorious day when the kingdom of God truly does come on earth as it is in heaven.

But remember: It’s up to each of us to cooperate in this unfolding divine plan.

Now is our time.

The eternal reward of God’s love begins now for those who love.

+++

Listen to the song of the day “Pour Me Out” 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!

Posted in inspiration, spirituality, Today's Contemplation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment