DISCIPLESHIP IN DIFFICULT TIMES

Orlando, Florida — the “happiest place on earth” became the bloodiest and unhappiest place in America, last Sunday morning. All it took was a man with deep hatred in his heart and an assault weapon that gunned down 49 people.

The atrocity sends shock waves through the nation. The populace becomes angry and afraid. Some take to the social media to express their anger and frustration about these horrific events happening repeatedly. Others run to gun stores to store up ammunition to “protect” themselves.

The event evokes feelings within us — feelings of sorrow, sadness, anger, pain, revenge, hate, helplessness, hopelessness, and ultimately, fear, a lot of fear. Fear for our safety, fear for the safety of our loved ones; Fear for the future our country.

You can feel the anxiety of the people and the angst of a nation expressed through thousands of social media postings and blogs. You can read them in editorials; you can hear them in political speeches. In a week or two, the rantings and ravings will stop. Memories of the horrors of Orlando will recede into the back of our minds and we will get busy with life — until the next incident happens.

It is not a prediction, but stating a reality. Unless the leaders of our nation think seriously about combating domestic terrorism, lower the tone and temperature of our political discourse, and enact common sense gun laws, it will be only matter of time before another mass shooting occurs.

In this context, what is a Christian supposed to do? How are we disciples of Christ supposed to think? Should we join the crowd and hate Muslims? Then what happens to our discipleship which calls us to love our enemies? How does Jesus’ command to “turn the other cheek” make sense in this situation?

Is God on our side when we fight the enemy? Are our national interests and divine interests the same? If they are different, how do we conduct ourselves as citizens and disciples at the same time? Jesus says: “Let not your hearts be troubled; trust in me and trust in my Father.” Can we trust Jesus to protect us or should we go out and buy some guns? Jesus says: “Be not afraid.” But the truth is that we are afraid. How do we live as fearless followers of Jesus among fearful citizens? These are difficult questions for a disciple.

Let us turn to the first disciple, Peter, for some guidance in this matter. Peter was not a courageous man; in fact he was a fearful man. That is why he denied Jesus three times, in front of a maid. Peter was also a narrow minded Jew. He was not open to the Gentiles, and he did not want to associate with them. He thought he was specially chosen by God and the Gentiles were outside the love of God.

Then Peter went through a transformation of consciousness. An awakening happened in his life that changed his whole perspective about Gentiles and the so called outsiders. Today, we call them immigrants, Muslims, Mexicans or any one who is outside our tribe. Peter’s awakening is described in chapters 10 and 11 of the Acts of the Apostles. I strongly encourage you to read it.

Let me summarize the experience that opened Peter’s eyes. Peter was staying in the house of a man named Simon, the tanner, in a town called Joppa.

At noon, Peter went to the roof of the house which was a terrace, to pray and he fell into a trance. He saw the sky open and a sheet being lowered in front of him, by its four corners. Inside it, were all the four legged creatures of the earth, and reptiles and birds of the sky. A voice said to him: “Get up Peter, kill and eat!”

Peter replied: “Surely not, Lord. I have never eaten anything unclean or impure.” The prospect of eating unclean food was against his religion. It was a horrifying thought for Peter. But then, he hears the voice a second time: “Do not call anything unclean, what God has purified.” This happened three times and then the sheet was taken back to heaven.

While Peter was still thinking about the meaning of this vision, he hears a knock on the door. He finds two men standing there. They had come to invite him to the house of Cornelius. Now, you have to remember that Cornelius was a gentile and Jews and gentiles are not supposed to mix and mingle. Peter was a bit confused, but went with them anyway.

When he arrived, Peter said to Cornelius: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or to visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean. That is why I have come in response to your invitation without raising any objections.”

And then Peter said these words to the people gathered in the house: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism. But accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.”

God shows no partiality. God does not love one nation more than another. God does not love one group of people over another; God does not favor one religion over another religion. God is not a partisan. He wants all his children to be united, beyond borders, beyond nationalism beyond religions.

If you want to be a Godly people, you need to think and act like God. You cannot claim to be a Godly person and be prejudiced and discriminating towards any group of people, be they from other countries or other religions or have different pigmentation or sexual orientation.

That is what Peter, the first disciple realized; that is what, we as today’s disciples need to realize. It is a difficult lesson to learn. We will learn that lesson only if we transform our lives through Christ-consciousness. Remember, the tag line of our church is “ Transforming lives through Christ-consciousness.” Our narrow, selfish human consciousness will not change our attitudes. It will not allay our anxieties or remove our fears.

All us have different identities. I can think of 8 deterrent identities for myself: I am a husband, a parent, an Indian citizen, an American citizen, a hospice chaplain, a minister, a Christian, and a disciple. (Now you may wonder isn’t “Christian” and “disciple” the same? Not always. You can be a good Christian and a bad disciple at the same time. I won’t go into that now, because that is a whole new sermon)

So, I am this one individual with 8 different identities. Each one of them involve differing loyalties and allegiances. Some more than others. For example, there is very little conflict between my identity as a parent and as a husband. Similarly, my identity as a hospice chaplain and minster are very compatible.

But during crisis situations like the events of 9/11, or terrorist attack in Orlando, or a heated election season like we are having now, we may feel conflicted about our national identity and our religious identity. Your loyalties may be questioned. Your allegiances may be challenged. Your faith may be tested.

What is your primary identity? Are you an American first and a Disciple second?

Let me answer that question by using the story of Abraham, who is the called the “Father of Faith.” It is a long story that spans a total of 9 chapters in the book of Genesis (12–21). Please read it: It is a fascinating story of fear and courage, despair and hope, struggle and surrender, the possible and the impossible, of losing and finding, and ultimate transformation of his identity. Let me summarize it.

First of all, Abraham was not his original name. He had a different name (anyone knows?) His name was Abram which means (exalted father). “The Lord called Abram and said to him: “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” (Gen.12:1)

God has already asked him to give up 3 of his identities: His national identity, his cultural identity and his family identity. Leave your country, leave your people, leave your household!

Abram was 75 years old. He takes his wife Sara, his nephew Lot and leaves his land called Haran and is headed for Canan. It was a long journey full of dangers and risks. He had to deal with famine. He had to face enemies. There were quarrels between Abram and Lot and they had to go separate ways. But God kept on reassuring him: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward” (15:1)

After 24 years of grueling journey, when Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him again and said: “As for me, this is my covenant with you. You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram, from now on, your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.” (17:4–6)

You have to remember he was 99 years old. Fatherhood at that age is impossible by human standards. Yet we know that he became the father of Issac and through him the father of the chosen people. Remember he also had to deal with God’s command to sacrifice his only son. So, on the one hand is the promise of a great nation through his progeny, but on the other hand he had to sacrifice that progeny. It made absolutely no sense. Yet, Abraham complied with God..and we know what happens when we comply with God against our human calculations. It is hard to do, but it pays off all the time.

Abraham became the “Father of Faith” through his single minded faithfulness to God. Fear and faith are related. Your fearfulness is directly proportionate to your faithfulness. The more faith you have, the less fearful you are and, vice-avers. To remain faithful to God, Abraham had to leave behind several identities behind: his national, cultural, and family identities, and finally he had to even give up his name. He relinquished his identity as Abram to become Abraham.

How many identities do you have? If you had to give up all your identities and choose just one, what would that be?

Would you choose “Disciple” as your primary identity? It is a difficult question to answer, but we must honestly answer that, especially in trying times like these.

If you dare to assume “Disciple” as your primary identity, then you may have to rethink your view on people of other religions like Islam, and other countries like Mexico. Do I support banning Muslims from entering this country and building a wall to keep the Mexicans out? You may have to re-examine your views on guns. “What is more important to me — the 10 commandments or the second amendment? The Bible or the Constitution?” These are not easy questions.

But who said discipleship is easy? Listen to Jesus telling his followers. “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.”(Luke 9:23–25)

Jesus is asking you to deny your identity, your own very self, the self that you may be jealously safe-guarding. He is asking us to shed our personal ignorance and national arrogance. He is asking us to leave behind our national loyalties and worldly allegiances and make discipleship our priority.

Do you know what is the pay-off for doing that? It is huge. It is something we should all want.

Let us see what was the pay-off for Abraham for giving up so much, including his name. God said: “I will make you a great nation and I will bless you. I will make your name great; you will be a blessing..I will bless those who bless you..and all people on earth will be blessed through you.” (Gen12:2–3)

God stretched his name from Abram to Abraham. He expanded his name from Abram which meant, “exalted father” to Abraham which meant “father of nations.”

If you really want to be a Godly people, and true disciples, you have to be willing to undergo some “stretching and expanding” — stretching your mind to include all people in your circle of concern and expanding your heart to embrace them with love.

All “stretching” causes pain at first, but is rewarding at the end.

If you really want to be blessed by God and be a blessing to others, choose “Disciple” as your default identity. Make sure that your thinking, feeling and acting are sifted through the spiritual sieve of “Christ-consciousness.”

Any other way of living will be compromising your Christianity, diluting your discipleship and faking your faith.

• Christianity
• Religion

PARKLAND TRAGEDY; WE LIVE IN A GOOD FRIDAY WORLD BUT WE ARE AN EASTER PEOPLE

Two weeks ago, terror visited our neighborhood. Horror Jolted our hearts. Pain filled our minds and sadness soaked our souls.

Many are asking the Why question. Why such horrible things happen in the world? What makes a person so angry and evil that he could take an Uber ride to a school and gun down innocent kids?

To get flavor of how this event has affected some people, I like to share with you a face book posting from a teacher at Stoneman Douglas. I know her personally because she was Johnny's teacher at Taravella. She wrote this at 4.30 in the morning because she couldn't sleep.

Random thoughts on the state of our staff…teachers' days are not normal, we are floating around, We have too many funerals to attend, we can't make a plan, we're late for everything because there's so many extra people in Parkland and the roads are all blocked, we shake uncontrollably, We can't be alone, free food is everywhere but we can't eat, we have pounding headaches, we are wearing hats and sunglasses, we can't take the sirens and cop cars buzzing around town, we can't sleep more than a couple hours, we wonder why we can't cry, we can't send our kids to school because there are so many lock downs still going on, we pet dogs, we gather, we blame ourselves and wonder what we could have done differently, we pull over and puke on the side of the road, we can't enjoy the sunshine or the beach we don't want these helicopters above us.

We go to counseling every day, we are hyper vigilant, we drive slow, we don't comb our hair, we can't wear our contacts, we are high-fiving survival, we stink, we look like zombies, we jump straight out of our chairs when a door slams, We are sharing our Xanax, we have no idea when we will go back to work, we carry Kleenex everywhere, and walk around with heavy hearts, not knowing what to do and what to expect next.

That just gives you a glimpse into the anger, sadness, questions, frustrations, senselessness, hopelessness, and helplessness of the whole situation.

How do we RESPOND to these events and experiences as DISCIPLES? That is the central question as we gather in church. Notice two words in that question… respond and disciples. I use those words intentionally. Lets look at the word respond.

Most people are not responding to what happens to them or around them. They are reacting. What is the difference between reacting and responding? You may not have thought about it. Understanding that difference could make a big difference in our lives.


A reaction is usually immediate and on the spot without much thinking or reflection about the meaning of the event or consequences of the reaction. We have expressions like nuclear reaction., allergy reaction, chemical reaction, emotional reaction which have an immediate, automatic, instinctive and sometimes destructive quality to it. If you study face book postings and twitter feeds, you will see that most people are reacting to what they see and hear and experience. Knee jerk reactions that are often, unrelated to reality, untested by facts, hyperbolic, superficial, emotionally charged and often, mean, cruel, unnecessary, and untrue. So when we are merely reacting to events around us, we are just following Newton's 3rd law of physics…for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Unfortunately, Christian life is not based on Newton's law of physics.

Responding on the other hand, means, reacting thoughtfully, mindfully and maturely. Responding requires, taking a deep breath, digging beyond the surface, looking beyond what you see, thinking before speaking and pausing before you click that send button on an email or post. Responding involves being alert, paying attention, prayer, reflection and meditation. Responding is focused, not on what happens to you, but who it happens to.

The second part of the question is: how do we respond as disciples? Because we have the option to respond in so many ways. We can respond as a Republican or a Democrat, a conservative or a liberal. We can respond as an NRA member, we can respond as an American, as an Indian, as an immigrant, as a gay person, as a man or a woman. We can also respond as a disciple. In fact we should respond to all the events and experiences around us as disciples of Jesus. When you do that, you will see that everything that happens to you or around you - be it school shootings, car accidents, cancer diagnosis, job loss, divorce or death - doesn't matter what it is, takes on a new meaning and significance.

I like to share with you, how my faith which, definitely gets challenged by tragic events, is restored. How, after experiencing anger, denial, bargaining, depression and sadness and horror, my sanity is restored. My discipleship kicks in.

As a disciple I know that destruction and restoration are two sides of the same coin. Death and resurrection are two aspects of the Christ-mystery.

Let me explain. What happened in Parkland on Valentines day , was a horrific event. Shattered lives, broken hearts, deferred dreams. No question about the horror of that day. There is no denying the reality of that event. It happened in real time, to real people.

But plenty of other things also happened immediately after that. I think of the heroism and self sacrificing mentality of coach Aaron Weis, geography teacher Scott Beigel and coach Chris Hixon who literally sacrificed their lives to save the lives of children. I look at the courage and tenacity of the police officers. I am inspired by the passion and determination of students like David Hogg, Emma Gonsalez, and Cameron Kasky who are willing to fight for a worthy cause like gun control. Seeing the love and compassion overflowing thru the veins of thousands of people who stood in line for hours to donate blood, brings tears to my eyes. I am humbled by the generosity of thousands people who donated to Go fund me, raising 2 million dollars in two days. There is so much good that is mixed with so much bad.

That is the mystery of life; that is the meaning of the Chinese symbol of yin and yang. Two aspects of the same reality, inter-related yet distinct, one flowing into the other, creating a rhythm of complimentary wholeness. We have to learn to live in the midst of the mystery of life, and also at the edge of it, resisting the temptation to find all the answers and control all events.

>Life is messy. Our messy lives and crazy world can never be contained in a nice bottle of acceptable answers to difficult questions and, easy solutions to complex problems. That is where inner processing is needed. That is why our discipleship matters.

If you want to live on the face of this earth, there is no escaping the reality of polarity. All of us want happiness; but we won't know what happiness is without experiencing sadness. We won't know what light is without encountering darkness; we won't know what a mountain is, without looking at the valley; we won't know what peace means in the absence of war; we cannot experience life without accepting death. Good and bad, darkness and light, death and life, despair and hope come in pairs.

That is how life is designed by the Creator. We cannot avoid it, or circumvent it; We cannot go around it; we have to go through it so that we can accept it and deal with it. The good news is that, day always follows night, light always follows darkness, hope always transcends despair, and life ultimately wins over death.

Apostle Paul understood this dual aspects of life so well, and that is why he wrote to the Corinthians:

We are hard pressed on every side, but we are not crushed; perplexed but not in despair; persecuted but not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed; we always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. We who are alive are given over to death for Jesus' sake so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body; so then death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

In another place, in the same letter to the Corinthians, Paul guarantees them that the bad and the good, the wounding and the healing will merge together in their lives, through the sufferings and the comfort that comes from Jesus. 2Cor 1: 5 says, "for just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also thru Christ, our comfort overflows."
Notice that Paul uses two contradictory words, in the same sentence. "suffering" and "comfort." He places them side by side, showing us the undeniable bond between the two.

As humans, we don't want them together; we want them separated; we only want comfort; We like to avoid suffering. But it doesn't work that way. As disciples, we should learn to put them together and find meaning and mystery inside that.

In the aftermath of the enormous suffering caused by the school shooting, comfort may not be easy to find. But it is there. It is inbuilt into our souls by the Creator. We need to go within to find it. To feel it, we need to attach our lives to the other side of the cross of Jesus.

We are disciples of a man in whom tragedy and triumph were blended together: Crucifixion and resurrection. The tragic part did not destroy Jesus, but elevated him to a new level of being as the Risen Lord.

That is our model. To be steadfast and peaceful in the midst of the tragic and the painful experiences of life, whether they happen to us or around us. To find that place within us that is unaffected by the turmoil of the world.

That will happen when we place Jesus in the center of our lives, Jesus who suffered but was also glorified; Jesus who died, but rose again. Let us pray for the grace to understand and accept this irony and mystery of life.

Let us always remember that we live in a Good Friday world, but we are an Easter people.

JESUS OF NAZARETH versus JESUS CHRIST

Is there a difference between Jesus of Nazareth and Jesus Christ? I think there is..and knowing the difference could make a difference in your spiritual life. It did for me.

The difference is huge.

Understanding the difference between the two and following the former will transform your life by the power of the latter.

Let me explain this by using an analogy.

How many of you heard of Joseph Ratzinger? Do you know who he is?...How many of you heard of Pope Benedict XVI? You heard of him, you have seen him on TV. You know who he is..the pope before Francis..the only pope who resigned.

Joseph Ratzinger and Pope Benedict are the same person. But then again, they are not. They are hugely different especially in their roles. Very few people know him as Joseph Ratzinger, but the whole world knows him as pope Benedict.

Ratzinger is this diminutive cardinal from Germany who was the head of the Congregation of Faith in Rome for many years. He used to live in an apartment in the Vatican complex. During my visit to Rome in 1984, I saw him walking from his apartment to his office in the Vatican square. A tiny man with gray hair walking, holding on to a little bag.

But on April 19, 2005 everything changed. He was elected pope by his fellow cardinals. Immediately he was whisked away to a special room and his black cassock and red hat were removed and he was dressed in white and a white hat was placed on his head and a special papal ring was placed on his finger. His name changed from Joseph Ratzinger to Pope Benedict the XVI. He was called His Holiness.

He sat on a special white chair. Other cardinals walked up to him, knelt in front of him and kissed his ring and pledged obedience to him. Then he came out to the window, flanked by cardinals, and greeted the crowd and blessed them as pope. He was elevated to the role of being the head of 1.2 billion Catholics world wide.

He was the same person, yet his role and position and persona had changed dramatically.
Joseph Ratzinger was transformed into Pope Benedict.

What happened in the case of Jesus of Nazareth is somewhat similar. Jesus was transformed into Jesus Christ. The carpenter from Nazareth became the savior of the world. The carpenter from Nazareth is Jesus the man, the savior of the world is, Jesus the Christ.

As humans, we need to get to know the human Jesus. God became man to show mankind what God is like and make mankind a “godly people.” (Mt: 5:48)

When Jesus says to us: “Follow me” he is asking us to follow him into his full humanity which grew into divinity. He is telling us that, if we follow him, we can get rid of our human problems, deal with our human struggles and grow into our inborn divinity and live much happier and peaceful lives.
Most Christians haven't paid attention to the humanity of Jesus. They only know him as the savior of world. And that is the problem. Let me tell you a story:

A baptist minister was once baptizing his flock on the river bank. A drunkard walked into the scene and preacher asked if he wanted to be baptized. He said yes, and he was taken into the water and the preacher asked: “Do you believe in Jesus Christ?
Guy: Who is that?
Preacher: Your Lord and savior.
Guy: You mean the guy who died on the cross?
Preacher: Yes
Guy: “He is OK, I believe in him” and the preacher baptized him in the name of father and of the son and of the holy spirit.

When I was in India, I stayed with my brother's family. His grandson Kevin is going to receive his first communion in March. It is a big celebration. He is already in a special catechism class preparing for holy communion. So I asked this little kid, what is it about. What happens at first communion? “I am going to receive Jesus for the first time” he said.“Who is Jesus?” “Jesus is God” and who is God? “God is Jesus?” He gave me this circular answers.

Unfortunately, most adults are also only capable of giving such circular answers. For most adult Christians, their religious knowledge has not progressed much from their religious education days as children.

For the past 17 centuries, the Church has been focusing on Jesus as son of God or Jesus the Christ. The first 3 centuries were different. It is in the fourth century, when emperor Constantine became a Christian, that Christianity became a religion. Until then, it was considered a way of life. A life based on the way of Jesus of Nazareth.

Constantine convened the bishops of the Church in a place called Nicea for a Council and the creed of the church was formulated during that council. This is the section abut Jesus.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

I was taught that creed when I was about 8 years old. It was mandatory learning prior to receiving first communion.
So according to the creed this is the bottom line:

Jesus is this big guy. He is the son of God. He has very little in common with me. He is divine and I am human; He is God, and I am a poor sinner. He has easy access to God, and I don't. If I pray to him he will tell God the father about my request and my prayers may be answered, or may be not, if it is not “God's will.” Since he died on the cross to save me, I need to thank him and praise him.

He rose again on the third day. He ascended into heaven which presupposes that heaven is somewhere up there. He is sitting now at the right hand of the father, which means that God has two hands...but then again, we say God is Spirit...

And of course, he is going to come again at the end of the world on golden chariots...and he will take a select group of people with him to heaven and the rest will be sent to hell for eternity.
Believing all that and repeating it is never going to change your life. It won't have any impact on your daily lives when you have to deal with the challenges and struggles of life.

When he was born, Jesus was not Jesus Christ, he was just Jesus. In the birth announcement, the angel told Mary that she “was to give him the name Jesus (Lk:1:31). He didn't say his name shall be “Jesus Christ.” In fact, according to the gospel of Mathew (1:23) his name is “Emmanuel” which means, “God with us.” So, what did we do? We took the “God with us” and made him into a “God for us,” put him on a pedestal and began worshiping him, rather than following him.

Listen to these words of the creed again: “He was born of the virgin Mary” and look at the next phrase: “He was crucified under Pontius Pilate and died and was buried.”
What happened to his 33 years of life, his teachings, his message? What happened in between his birth and his death? Who was he? What were his values? How did he live? How did he deal with life situations? How did he deal with people around him? What did he teach?

Let me give you a nugget from the gospel of Luke: (Read Luke: 6:27-36)

It is my opinion that that majority of Christians don't know Jesus the man who lived..or what he really taught or don't want to know what he taught, because, it is too hard to follow those teachings...and that is why the world is the way it is, even though half of the world is “Christian”...they are members of the religions of Christianity..not necessarily followers of the way of Jesus...big difference.

Story about worshiping and following.

This is the story of two patients on one of our hospice teams. Jane and Lisa were in their 70s. They were diagnosed with cancer. They lived together in a house in Tamarac. Being traditional Catholics, they wanted to receive the “Sacrament of the Sick” (Last Rites) before they died. So the team chaplain, who is a Protestant minister, contacted the local Catholic parish.

The priest agreed to come to the house and give the women Last Rites. The chaplain showed up at the house few minutes before the priest arrived. Both of them walked into patients' bedroom. The priest spoke to the women for a few minutes and excused himself from the room along with the chaplain.
And the priest told the chaplain that he could not give the sacrament to the women..because, they were gay... and living in sin. And the priest left.

Jane and Lisa have been in a committed relationship for more than 50 years. I personally don't believe that being gay is sinful. But for arguments sake, let us say it is.

Had this priest known the human Jesus who let the prostitute wipe his feet with her hair,
the Jesus who did not condemn the woman caught in adultery,
the Jesus who visited the house of Zacheus, the tax collector.
the Jesus who touched and healed the leper, the Jesus who forgave the thief on the side of his cross,
the Jesus who said, “Woe to you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to ( Mt: 23:13)
the Jesus who said: “Do not judge”,
the Jesus who said: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice, for I have come not to call the righteous but sinners” (Mt. (.13)
would have been extremely loving and compassionate to Lisa and Jane and would have given them the sacrament and comforted them in their dying days.

This priest was praising Jesus and worshiping him as the son of God in the church, but had forgotten who Jesus of Nazareth was.

I want you to get to know Jesus. I want you to shape your lives based on his teachings. I want you to see the world thru his eyes. I want you treat the people around you as he would have treated them. I would rather you follow him rather than worship him.

Jesus the man who grew up to become Jesus the Christ. Here is a human being, who was born in a family, raised by parents, and did carpentry work who became the anointed one.

In other words, the humanity of Jesus was transformed into divinity. That is my attraction to Jesus. That gives me hope that my humanity has the potential to grow into divinity when I follow in his way.

The seed of divinity is ingrained in your humanity. When you become conscious of that truth and bring forth that divinity from within...you are on your way to become Jesus-like..

… and the whole purpose of the enterprise called “Church” should be exactly that...

THIRD SUNDAY OF AWAKENING: "8 Words that Could Change Your Life"

This year, we replaced the word Advent with awakening. The reason for doing that is advent means coming or arrival of Jesus. We should no more wait for the arrival of Jesus because he arrived 2000 years ago. What we need to do is, instead of waiting for Jesus, we need to wake up to him.

To help you do that, today's sermon is titled, from constipated consciousness to cosmic Christ. Let me explain what I mean I by that.

You know what physical constipation is. In hospice care, we deal with that quite a lot especially with elderly patients in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. They sit in their wheel chairs or lie in bed all day. They don't drink enough fluids. They take a lot of medications. I have patients who are on 15 different pills. Combine all that with the aging of the body, and you get a plumbing system, that is stuck. Physical constipation can be extremely uncomfortable.

How about spiritual constipation? If you have any of the following symptoms, you are spiritually constipated. Fear, anger, jealousy, anxiety, prejudice, judgmentalism, unwillingness to learn new things, unwillingness to let go of the past, feelings of superiority, close mindedness, refusal to change your opinions inspire of new evidence, lack of flexibility, getting stuck in your ways.( pardon the pun)

One of the top symptoms of a constipated consciousness is fear and there is plenty of it around these days. The other day, I was having breakfast with a friend of mine who said:” Paul, I am walking around with this terrible anxiety in my heart. After the events of 9/11 I have been on edge. But over the years, it had subsided. But the rise of ISIS and the recent events in Paris and California have shaken me up again.”

I am afraid, something like that could happen here. He said, imagine, a busy Saturday in December at the Saw Grass Mills Mall. A crazy person with a home made bomb could walk in there and easily kill hundreds of people. It could happen in the American Airlines Arena when a basket ball game is on or at the Dolphins stadium when a football game is on. My friend is living with a constipated consciousness. He does not experience the joy of living and it is a sad way to live.

I refuse to live like that regardless of what is happening around me now or what might happen in the future. That is not the abundant life that Jesus promised. That is not the peace that the angels promised at the birth of Jesus. Remember that announcement to the shepherds: “Glory to god in the highest, and peace to men of good will.” What happened to that.?

How can we experience that peace today in the middle of ISIS threat? How can we enjoy that peace while living in an apparently hostile and unpredictable world?

We can do that, if we are willing to wake up to a different way of celebrating Xmas.

I see 3 ways of celebrating Xmas. The first is based on the shopping mall. Most of the western world follows this model. Its focus is to buy the right stuff for yourself, and to find the ideal gift for your loved ones. It is centered around black Friday and Cuber Monday. You put all those stuff under the Xmas tree, open them on Xmas morning, have a great Xmas dinner with family and friends and the day after Xmas is just like nay other day. I owe, I owe, therefore off to work I go.

The second way of celebrating Xmas is based on the gospel of Luke. What do I mean by that? Only Luke writes about the baby Jesus being born in a manger. Only Luke tells us about the angels making birth announcement to the shepherds. Xmas songs like “silent night holy night”, “Joy to the world”, “O little town of Bethlehem”, and “O come all ye, faithful” would not have existed without the gospel of Luke.

For majority of Christians, their Xmas is centered around the events described in the gospel of Luke. Most of the third wold which is economically poor, celebrates Xmas the Lukan way. When I was growing up in India, we celebrated it that way. We had a small manger at home with statues of Mary, Joseph and Jesus, the three kings and a few ceramic sheep. We had no black Friday madness in the malls, because we had neither the malls nor a Thanksgiving weekend. We had no Cyber Monday shopping because we had no computers. It was very basic.

If you really want to experience the peace and joy promised at the birth of Jesus, If you really want to experience Christmas joy beyond Xmas day, you have to wake up to celebrating Xmas using a third way. It is based on the gospel of John.

The gospel of John, does not mention the angels or the manger. It does not mention the shepherds or the three wise men from the east. There is no holy family of Joseph Mary and Jesus and there is no virgin birth. None of the external paraphernalia that we associate with Xmas is in the gospel of John.

John describes Xmas in just 8 simple words.

“The word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (Jn 1:14)

The implications of those 8 word are huge. If you can wake up to the real meaning of those 8 words your life will change.

In Greek, the language of the Bible, word is Logos which means God. Logos is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient God who is creator of everything. John begins his gospel with this declaration. “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God.”

We see the same phrase in the first verse of the first chapter of the book of Genesis “In the beginning, God created heaven and earth.” By using the same phrase, John is saying that Jesus is God.

Then he makes a startling statement: This all powerful God, this Logos, became flesh and dwelt among us. It doesn't say God became a holy man and dwelt among us, God became a Christian, a Jew, a Hindu, a Muslim, an American, a Canadian or a Cambodian and dwelt among us. But ..God became flesh.

In other words, anybody who is in flesh, which is everybody on this planet, 7 billion people belonging to 400 different regions, 38000 Christian denominations, living in 200 plus countries, speaking thousands of languages—every one of them, men women and children, black white and yellow, straight and gay, is an incarnation of god...every one them is God made flesh...in varying degrees.

When you start thinking like that, your constipated consciousness about nationality, ethnicity and religiosity, loosens up, you expand your heart so wide to include all those people, which by the way, includes the ISIS terrorists, and the refugees too—you start experiencing the joy and peace of Xmas.

You cannot experience the peace of Xmas by excluding people from your circle of concern. Mother Teresa once said that we don't have peace because, we have forgotten that we belong to each other.

You cannot celebrate the birthday of the God made man, if you can't celebrate mankind with all its flaws and flavors. You cannot experience true Xmas joy if you cannot extend your hands wide and embrace the entire humanity which is 7 billion pieces of God made flesh spread around the planet.

Let me tell you a story. Few weeks ago, I was co-officiant at a Hindu-Catholic wedding. The bride was Catholic and and groom was Hindu. The bride had tried all the local Catholic churches in Broward and Palm Beach counties to find a find a priest. No priest would join the Hindu priest because that would give the false impression that both religions are the same.

In the mind of the priest, Christianity is a better region than Hinduism. By the way, if you harbor feelings of superiority with regard to other people or religions, you are downgrading the God made flesh in those people.

So, this bride sitting in her apartment in Chicago, clicked on a website called “rentapriest.com” where I am listed as a wedding officiant. She sends me an email asking if I was available for a Hindu-Catholic fusion wedding on Saturday November 28th. I replied yes. All I am thinking at that point is, I am going to be part of the life journey of two people whom I have never met and what a blessing that is.

I never thought about the superiority of Christianity over Hinduism. I didn't say to myself: “According to John 3; 16, the bride is saved because she believes in Jesus, but the groom is doomed to hell because his is a Hindu..these are all thoughts coming from a constipated consciousness.

I had none of those thoughts. I am going to be a witness to the love of two souls and thank you Jesus for making me a part of it. Period. End of story.

As soon as I replied yes my phone rang. It was the bride. Her name was Anona. As we began talking, I came to find out that her parents who live in Boca, are from the same state in India where I come from. In fact, her mother and I grew up in the same town.

The next day, her father called me and I went to visit the parents in Boca.

As soon I saw then, I recognized them. I had met them in 1988 at the house of a mutual friend in Coral springs. At that time, the bride was just 5 years old. I had no memory of the girl but I remembered her parents.

Fast forward 27 years, this girl who is 31 years old, is connecting with me to officiate her wedding. And I am connecting with her parents after a 27 year gap. The mystery of the circle of life.

It was a huge wedding with about 250 invited guests..more than half of them were Hindus. There were statues of Hindu Gods all around the wedding venue. The Hindu priest and I stood side by side on the podium. There were three readings from the Bible. I talked about the sacrificial love of Jesus as the basis of Christian marriage. The Hindu priest did several rituals invoking the name of Rama and Krishna in prayers.

I was totally comfortable and at ease, being with a group of people who were celebrating one of the most joyful events of life. There was so much joy, and laughter and love in that room.

The 250 people in that room regardless of their faith, or the gods they prayed to, the customs they practiced, the holy books they read from, were all—at the end of the day, children of the same God and part of a world God so loved.

At the end of the ceremony I said this. “My presence here today is no coincidence. I don't believe in coincidence, I believe in “God-incidence.” In the world wide web of humanity, all of us are connected by an invisible, but real bond. Very often, we are not conscious of that bond,because we place veils of separation such as religion, race, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation etc. and hide behind them.
But every now than, God lifts that thin veil of unconsciousness and gives us an opportunity to see that bond. This event is one such moment.”

Every interaction with another human being is an encounter with the Word made flesh. There is an invisible bond between you and all other humans on this planet. Awareness of that bond will help you see the Cosmic Christ in everything and in everyone.

We cannot meaningfully celebrate the birthday of the God-made-man, without acknowledging, accepting and celebrating humanity in its entirety. Anything less is dishonoring the “Word-made-flesh.”

SECOND SUNDAY OF AWAKENING: "Awaken to John 3:16"

This year we are preparing for Xmas in a different way. Instead of waiting for the coming of Jesus which is what advent means, we are talking about waking up to Jesus who has already arrived. He arrived 2000 years ago. The tragedy of Christianity is the lack of awareness of his arrival. So today I like to talk more about awareness, which is the same as consciousness or waking up. I also will talk about the importance of waking up and the process of waking up.

But before that, let me share with you a conversation I had last week with a friend of mine who is a priest. I told him that I am replacing the word advent with awakening. His first question was who gave you permission to do that. Because in his thinking, he has to get permission from his bishop to do anything like that.

It is usually children who need permission to do something. If you want your child to go on a school trip you have to sign a permission slip. Permission is also about control. You want to be in control of your child's whereabouts at all times. But true spirituality will never flourish in a childish, controlled environment. The holy spirit is a free flowing reality. That is why Jesus said, “the wind blows where ever it pleases. Your hear its sound. But you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with every one born of the spirit.(John 3:8). So, if you are constrained, consigned and cocooned in our life, the Holy Spirit may not be working in you.

So when I put the permission issue to rest, he raised another point-the issue of tradition. For 2000 years, the church has designated the four weeks before Xmas as the season of advent. The word advent is printed on all calendars. We have advent candles, advent wreath, advent liturgy. Who gave you the authority to change that. So, it is actually permission issue related to control.

Basically what he was asking was who gave you permission to think outside the box? How dare you Paul V. paint outside the frame? My answer to that is if you don't think outside the box, you will always live inside the box and such a life is a limited,controlled, constricted existence., a life devoid of spirit.

Let us say, you purchased a refrigerator. It was delivered on a Saturday morning. The guys installed it in your kitchen. And left the huge box in your garage for you to dispose of on garbage collection day. Instead of putting it on the curb, imagine you get into the box and living in it.

Your heart muscles will grow weak because it doesn't need to stretch to pump blood for a body that is actively living in the world. You will never know the beauty and elegance of the larger world out there. It is a suffocating existence smeared with drudgery, boredom and predictability. Religious life is like that for many people. There is no excitement or feeling of abundance in a choreographed life punctuated with rules, rituals, rubrics and traditions.

Speaking of traditions, I am always inspired by these words of Jeroslav Pelican who was a Lutheran pastor. He said; “tradition is the living faith of the dead and traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.” Now think about it for a moment. What we call tradition is something that was done in the past by our forefathers. Notice the words, past and forefathers.

They lived in the past and they did things that they found meaningful then. It was their living faith then. They are dead now. We cannot and should not just cut and paste their traditions into our life without examining and understanding it. When we do that it is called traditionalism and it becomes dead faith of the living. A lot of that is happening in religion and that is why even though the world is filled with religious people the world is not a paradise. The ISIS terrorism is an extreme example of this. They want to establish a caliphate based on the customs and traditions established by Mohamed in the 7th century.

A lot of people are going thru the motions. They are sleep walking thru life. They need to wake up. There is a famous 18th century bedtime prayer for children that goes like this:
I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
If I should die before I wake,
Bless me Lord my soul to take.

I think we should change one line of that prayer. Instead of "If I should die before I wake" we should pray: "Wake me up before I die." Waking up in the morning implies, opening your eyes, shaking off the blanket, sitting up in your bed, then standing up and walking to the bathroom or kitchen or where ever you wan to go. So waking up requires a little shaking up. It requires coming out of the safety and comfort of the so called security blanket and out into the open. There is some discomfort involved in that. Unless we are willing to undergo that discomfort, we can't wake up and do what needs to be done such as get ready for work and go to work and earn a living and maintain a family.

Spiritual life is not any less different than that. If you want to have a vibrant spiritual life that brings love and peace and joy and hope into your life—which by the way, are represented by the four advent candles, be prepared to wake up and be open to some shake up. It is a good thing. It is a sign of life. Because the only place there is no movement, no sign of life, is when you are in the coffin.

Awakening is so important in life because, you are only affected by what you are aware of. You are only influenced by what is within your awareness or consciousness. Nothing else matters regardless of what it is or how much it is. It is like 2 trillion dollars circulating in the US economy any given day. What matters is what is in your savings or checking account. Awareness is like that. If you are not aware of something, it makes no difference for you.

If you are not aware that Jesus has already arrived but you are still looking for him on Xmas day, nothing changes for you. If you are unaware that the person standing in front of you is Jesus in disguise, you are unlikely to treat him with love or respect.If you are unconscious about the availability of abundant life now, you wont experience it now. You will expect it only after you die.

Let me tell you a story to prove to you that unless you are conscious of something, it has no no impact on you. In other words, only what you experience, understand and are conscious of can affect your thinking and behavior and ultimately your life. That applies to all areas of life-physical, emotional and spiritual.

We have a dog. Her name is Sally. She is a young, energetic, beagle mix who loves to run. If she gets a chance she will bolt thru the door and run wild thru the neighborhood. When that happens, and it has happened a few times until I put up a fence in the back yard- we become very anxious. We are worried that she would bolt across the street and get hit by a car or she would bite somebody and we will get sued.I am not a happy camper when that happens.

My wife would get into her ca and drive around the neighborhood looking for Sally. She will spot her somewhere, stop the car and call her ...the dog will come close and as soon as my wife tries to grab her, she would bolt again. She is playing. What do you expect from an unconscious animal? Every time it happens, it is a forty five minute to an hour of anxiety, anger, frustration and pure pain in the neck experience. And it is no fun.

A few months ago, I was home alone. My wife and son had gone shopping on a Saturday afternoon. I hear this noise outside the door and I see Sally standing there panting heavily..apparently she had escaped thru a hole in the fence and was gone for a while...running around the neighborhood. Since I had no awareness of her escape, I had no heart palpitations, no anxiety, no anger..I was just relaxing and watching TV the whole time. The point is that only what you are conscious of can make a difference in your life.

So on this second Sunday of awakening, I like you to wake up to the purpose of Jesus's birth as it is stated by Apostle John. Because that is the one you are most familiar with. Jn 3: 16. Every Christian, knows that phrase by heart. You see them as bumper stickers. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Have you seriously thought about it or are you just repeating it? If you are just repeating it without understanding what it really means, if you are not conscious of its meaning, it won't transform your life and that seems to be the case with a lot of Christians. They will put it on their cars and proudly drive around town, but if you stop and ask them what it really means, they are unlikely to give a conscious answer.

Very often it is used as a statement of exclusivity..that Jesus is the only son God. If you don't believe in him, you will perish. But if you do, you will have eternal life. Believing in him is usually understood as believing in certain doctrines about Jesus..that he was born of the Virgin Mary, that he is the son of God, that he died on the cross for our sins, that he rose again and will come again to judge us at the end of the world. And if you believe all that, you are eligible for eternal life, which his usually life after death.

If that is all you know about that verse, you are unconscious. Understanding John 3.16 like that will not give you the Xmas experience of love, peace joy and hope.

You have to wake up to the real meaning of that verse. First of all, focus on the first line: It says,God so loved the world. It doesn't say, God loved America, Israel, India, Canada or God loved the Christians, the Jews, the Muslims;God loved the world which means the whole world with its 7 billion people and the entire creation. If your love is exclusively for only certain group of people, or let us say, you dislike some religions like Islam or some groups like the gays, you cannot have full Xmas experience of love peace and joy.

If you think that those who don't believe in Jesus will perish as as John 3.16 implies, you won't enjoy the Xmas experience because more than half of humanity does not believe in Jesus. If you take john 3.16 literally, you will have to sent 1.2 billion Chinese into hell because they don't believe in Jesus. What kind of Xmas experience of joy and peace do you expect to have after consigning the entire Chinese population to hell?

Look at the current refugee crisis in light of john 3.16. The Syrian refugees who flee their homes with the clothes on their back and the kids on their shoulders are part of the world that God so loved. We know that 31 state governors including ours have told the president, we don't want them here, because we are afraid of them..some of them could turn into terrorists...

How can we celebrate the birth of the son god of we are afraid of other sons and daughters of God who are suffering in this world that God so loved? If you are unsympathetic to the refugee crisis you will sleep walk thru the advent season. I like you to wake up to the fact Jesus is the son of refugees.Mary and Joseph were like refugees in Bethlehem because they had no place to go. They ended up in a manger and gave birth to Jesus. But he was not safe there because King Herod wanted to kill him like Asad is killing hundreds of Syrians now. So Mary and Joseph had to pick up Jesus and escape to Egypt.

The irony is that during the Christmas season, Christians will display manger scenes in front of their homes without realizing that they are displaying a refugee family...

They will pay homage to baby Jesus in the crib who is the son of refugees and at the same time oppose admitting Syrian refugees into the country.

It is that disconnect that makes our Christmas so meaningless. That is why I am talking so much about the need for awakening.

When we wake up to the truth that every human being—all 7 billion of them-that includes the terrorists and the refugees-- is part of a world that God so loved and we open our hearts to love them as God did, you will start experiencing Xmas in a whole new way... and that is my prayer for our congregation this year.

FIRST SUNDAY OF AWAKENING: "Awaken to Mt: 28:20b"

Time flies is isn't it? I was just the other day we celebrated Christmas and it is Christmas again in less than a month. And then a few weeks later we will start the season of Lent and then Holy week, and Easter. As we go thru these seasons and celebrations, what happens to us? Does anything really change in our lives or are we just going thru the motions?

My feeling is that we are doing all this because that is what we are supposed to do as Christians. These seasons and celebrations are part of being a church. But beyond that, I am not sure what does all this mean?

This year we are entering Christmas season in the shadow of the Paris Massacre. The huge tragedy that shook Paris a few weeks ago. I was watching TV and this breaking news came on and sat there and began weeping...this deep sadness pervaded my heart...sadness for the suffering of those innocent victims who were enjoying a meal in a restaurant or music in a theater.

What saddened me even more is the fact that it was done in the name of God. As they were shooting, the terrorists were chanting Allahu Akbar which means “God is great.” I have no ideas who that God is...but they are convinced that their God wants it this way. What are we to do? How are we to process a horrific event like that? What are we to think of a God like that?

So, on an international level, we have ISIS wreaking havoc—Beirut, Paris, Mali. There is a huge refugee crisis going on in Europe where families are displaced, lives are lost and hope for a peaceful world seems to be diminishing each day. And we are entering a season of of Advent in the middle of all this.

And then there is more. Look at what is happening nationally here at home. The election season is heating up and it is nasty out there. A certain segment of the population is extremely angry and you can see that anger and frustration finding voice thru the vitriolic speeches from some candidates. It is cut throat competition out there in the campaign field.

So we have international problems, National problems and thee is at least one more thing we have to add to that. Our personal problems. I don't know what you may be going thru, but I am sure we all have something, right? Cheryl is taking care of her ailing mom, which is a very difficult job.

In the midst of all these unrest and uncertainty, problems and challenges, what is the season of advent and celebration of Christmas going to do for us?

If the past is any indication, the answer is, nothing much. Today we will observe the first Sunday of advent and will light one candle, next week, 2 candles, and then three, and four and a then during Christmas eve ,..all four candles will be lit, Christmas songs will be sung, we will wish merry Xmas to each other...go home open our presents..watch some parades or sports...enjoy the weekend and Monday morning..back to work. I know the drill, because I have been there. We all have been there.

This year I want it to be different for us. I don't want you to go thru another traditional advent and Christmas season. So, I am going to propose a few changes. Change is hard, but stay with me, have an open mind and watch what happens. What is the harm in trying something new. We have done the traditional stuff for so long and nothing much changed. So let us give it a try. We have nothing to lose. So be open minded and be excited.
In fact, I am not going to say anything new. It is very old, as old as the scriptures..Either you have not been told the real meaning of things or you have not really understood some basic stuff about being a christian.

I promise you one thing. I will stick with Jesus..If anything I say in this church during the weeks and months ahead, is against the teachings of Jesus and what you read in the four gospels, I want you to challenge me and even ban me from coming back.

Don't argue using a verses from the Old Testament or a single verse from St. Paul's letters to contradict something I might say. Stick with the four gospels, because that is where we meet Jesus. Even there, we won't be able to meet the 100 percent real Jesus because Jesus is presented there thru the eyes of Mt, Mk, Luke and John. That is why they are called gospel “according to”

Having said that, let me propose a simple change..it is just the change of a word..but the implications are huge. This year, let us delete the word “advent” from our vocabulary and our consciousness. Where ever you see the word advent, replace it with Awakening.

Now, why is that important you might ask. It is important f because words do matter.
Let me tell you a story. There is an experiment about the power of words. A man sat at the corner of a NY subway station with a cardboard sign which said: “I am blind, please help”. Some people threw money onto plastic cup placed on the sheet in front of him. In one hour he collected $15.37.

Then he changed the words on the sign. It read: “It is a beautiful day, but I can't see it.” Now throngs of people began putting money into his plastic cup and it overflowed into the sheet on which the cup was placed. In one hour, he collected $123. 10 cents. That is the power of words.

So how is replacing the word advent with awakening going to help us spiritually? First let us look at the meaning of the word advent. It literally means, coming or arrival. It comes from the Latin word venire, to come.

So what we have been doing for centuries is, set apart four weeks before Christmas to prepare ourselves for the coming or arrival of Christ. On the first Sunday of advent we usually read about John the Baptist preparing the the crowd for the coming of the messiah.

The notion of “coming” or “arrival” of Jesus masquerades the reality that Jesus is already here. It perpetuates the notion that we have to “wait” for him rather than “witness” to him. When you are expecting Jesus, you fail to experience him. The fact of the matter is that Jesus has been already here for 2000 plus years. The question is not, “How to prepare for his he coming?” but “Have I met him?” So instead of “waiting” for his arrival, we need to “wake up” to his presence within us and around us.

Now you know why the bulletin says First Sunday of Awakening. Jesus is in your hearts already. He was born in your heart the day you were formed in your mother's' womb. You need to wake him up..commune with him, consult with him, take him with you where ever you go. You have to make a conscious decision to do that.

Jesus—that is a powerful name. The man behind that name is the savior of the world. There is no other name given under the sun by which man may be saved, says apostle Peter.

We don't have to wait for another four weeks to meet him. You don't have to do extensive preparations to welcome him on Christmas night. Jesus said to his disciples: And surely, I am with you always, till the end of times.” Those are the last words of Jesus according to the gospel of Mt. That is the last verse of the last chapter of Mathew's gospel. It is a promise and a guarantee from the Lord. I want you to wake up those words.

I am with you always. Jesus didn't say, I was with you for 3 years, now that I am dead, I am sorry, I can't help you, you are on your own. He didn't say, I “will” be with you at a later date, in the future. If you get into trouble, or you can't manage things by yourself, call me and I will help you in the future.

He said. I AM with you Always...now in real time..There is not a moment in our lives when Jesus is away from us. We may be away from him plenty of times during the week, but he is not.

So, wake up to those five powerful words: I am with you Always....Don't wait any longer and be miserable and unhappy in the meantime. Waking up to those words mean, become conscious of it.

When you become conscious of the presence of Jesus with you and around you all the time, advent and Lent will become unnecessary. You will feel like Christmas every day; you will live risen life every day. Not just 4 weeks before Xmas and 6 weeks before Easter.

On the other hand, if you are aware of the presence of Jesus only during Xmas and Easter time, that is a tragic way to live a Christian life.

Waking up to Jesus means two things. It is not actually two separate things, but two aspects of the same reality. First, you have to feel the presence of Jesus inside you.. Don't live your life feeling empty inside or fill the inside with feelings of anger, jealousy, frustrations and bitterness and all those negative stuff.

When you do that, Jesus is dead inside. With a dead Jesus inside, you cannot see the living Jesus outside.

What you see outside is a reflection of yourself. You see the world as you are, not as it is. That is why Wayne Dyer said: A happy person lives in a happy world, a miserable person lives in a miserable world.

When Jesus is alive on the inside, you will start seeing Jesus in others. “Whatever you did to the least of my brothers, you did it to me.” Those words of Jesus would become alive for you.

SPIRITUALITY OF CURIOSITY

A little girl asked her Mom, “Where do humans come from?”
Her Mom answered, “God made Adam and Eve and they had children and that’s how we all descend from.”
A few days later the girl asked her Dad the same question.
Her Dad answered, “Many years ago there were monkeys from which people evolved.”
The confused girl returned to her mother and said, “Mom, how is it possible that you told me that people were created by God, and Dad said people evolved from monkeys?”
Her Mom answered, “Well, dear, it’s very simple: I told you about my side of the family, and your father told you about his.”

Children are very curious. I remember getting annoyed with my son Tommy because he asked too many questions. When we grow up, we become busy with life, get into a routine and pattern and live predictable lives with very little curiosity about anything.

You heard the expression, big data. Every day humanity creates data and information in staggering quantities. Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google once estimated that every two days humanity creates a quantity of data equivalent to the entire amount created from the dawn of time up until 2003. And he said that 5 years ago. Everyday humanity tweets 500 million times, shares 70 million photos on Instagram and watches 4 billion videos on Facebook. For every minute that passes, we upload 300 hours of new content on you tube.

I keep my curiosity alive because, there is so much to know and I know very little. I like to be in a marvel-mode as opposed to a mundane-mood.

Every night I watch Jeopardy. There are a total t of 60 questions/answers I should say spanning 12 topics each night. Most nights, I don't get any answers right. If the topic is Bible or religion, may be I will get a few here and there. And I am no dummy. I have spent 18years in graduate and post graduate school. I have a doctorate in theology and masters in psychology. I have 23 letters of the alphabet after my name. But still, I know only o.ooooooooooo 1 percent of the data and information out there.

My son Tommy is college and I look at some of this chemistry books. There is this chemical formula with starts.. CnH(2n + 1)OH (n ^1). I have no clue what that means and how that works. I am walking on Ramblewood blvd and I see this telephone technician standing in front of one of those central control boxes open with wires hanging all over; the guy knows what he is doing and how the whole thing works, and I am marveling because I have no clue how all that works.

I have no knowledge about technical, mechanical or scientific stuff. If life is about what I know and what I am capable of doing, we will be living in the stone age. Since I don't know much, I am curious about everything. How the planes fly, how the ships sail, how trains and cars run. I am curious about how a grocery store is organized, how an airport is operated and how a cruise ship gets ready to sail. I am curious about the computer, the calculator, the calendar, the cell phone.

I am curious about how a submarine operates, what happens in the Google headquarters in California; I am curious about how Geico comes up with these funny commercials. I am curious about everything. There is so much out there that I don't know nothing about.

I am curious about my neighbors; where they come from, what they do for a living, what is exciting about their jobs. Among my neighbors, there is USDA inspector, an insurance adjuster, an ophthalmologist, a building contractor, financial planner, a restaurant manager, two teachers, and a physical therapist. I know who lives in which house and what kind of cars they drive. It is all part of my curiosity. No, it is not stalking. I am just interested in them as fellow- humans, who they are, what makes them unique, what makes them roll. I love to hear stories of people's lives.

This is true of my work environment too. There are 16 people on my hospice team. I know about their families. I know what country they were born. I ask them questions, not because I am intrusive, but I am interested. I know what kind of car each of my team members drive. I don't follow them to find out. I pay attention.
We all work in the field visiting patients in various facilities. l see them driving to a nursing home or leaving one at the same time I am driving in. I just pay attention. Knowing what car someone drives is my way of caring about them. When I see them driving, I say a prayer.

Part of our job as hospice chaplain is that we have to do on-call twice a month. It is an 8 hour, shift during which you are called to visit a family if a patient dies.

I love going out on calls. It is an exciting opportunity to meet new people. I am going to walk into totally new situations and meet people whom I have never seen before.

Few weeks ago, I was called to attend the death of a patient in Hollywood. When I arrived there were 3 police officers, milling around the house. After I arrived, two of them left, but one stayed. We had to sit there for two hours waiting for the funeral home.

So I started talking to the policeman. I asked him: “Do you ever feel bad about giving traffic citations.?” He said no. Then he started telling me stories about the Canadian drivers who make illegal U turns and then argue with him about the tickets. He told me about a traffic stop that morning and the driver's excuse for speeding: “I was trying to keep up with traffic.” To which the cop replied, “There is no traffic.” And the replied with, “That’s how far behind I am.”

I was always kind of jealous about police officers taking their cars home. I wanted to know why it is better for the tax payer for the police to take the car home. The only benefit I thought was that having a police car in the driveway is good for neighborhood safety.

He enlightened me about what I was curious about, what I had no clue about. For example, if you give your car to the next officer after your 8 hour shift and he drives for another 8 hours and the next officer for another 8 hours...three separate drivers with different driving habits, continuously driving the same car is not good for the car in the long run. There are so many equipments in police car these days like computer, gas masks, revolvers, and accountability becomes an issue when different people use the same car.

Then I was curious about how many things a policeman had to carry on his person. He was happy to show me. He has a gun, flashlight, hand cuffs, maize, a folded baton, and a radio. I had an easier job because I can can go to work without any of those and this guy had to carry all that. I had a new appreciation for the job the police do..

I have a good friend who is curious like me and so he became an Uber driver. Anyone with a good car and likes driving and loves people can work for Uber and earn good money in the process.

If you are Uber driver, you have no idea who your next passenger is going to be. You could meet fascinating people from all parts of the country, even all parts of the world.

My friend had an interesting conversation last week with a passenger. After the initial pleasantries, my friend asked the passenger: “So what do you do for a living?”Without skipping a beat, the passenger said:”I am a drug dealer.” My friend who is a hospice chaplain, immediately replied: “Me too.” They were both curious about each other. He told the chaplain that he was trying to be funny. He was actually a pharmacist, who is technically, a “drug dealer.”
The pharmacist was curious about how the chaplain could be a drug dealer. The chaplain solemnly said: “Part of my job is to preach religion; didn't Karl Marx say that religion is the opium of the people?” The passenger laughed out loud. He was impressed by the clever Uber driver who was a hospice chaplain. They had a lively conversation about religion in America and the chaplain had a chance to talk about how Jesus changed his life.

I finished reading a book that just came out “A curious Mind” by Brian Grazer. He is a famous Hollywood producer of movies like Apollo 13, A beautiful mind. He has received 47 Oscar nominations and 149 Emmy nominations for movies and TV shows. He has been named TIME's 100 influential people in the world. Mr. Grazer attributes all his success and happiness to having what he calls, “curiosity conversations” with people. (good book to read).

What has curiosity to do with spirituality? If spirituality is about loving people, then showing interest in people and getting to know them is a good way of loving them. It makes loving them easier. If you are afraid of people or paranoid about them, more than likely, you don't know anything about them.

I have a little job in this church. When someone joins the church I write a blurb about them in the church chatter. I talk to them about who they are, what they like about this church, where they came from faith-wise and family-wise and it is a fascinating conversation. After that conversation, my feelings about them are very different. Knowing about them makes me a little closer to them which makes it easy to love them.

So curiosity is not about being nosy but being nice. It is not about being a stalker but a broker—brokering connections, communion and communication. It is not about interfering in people's privacy but being inquisitive about the mystery of their being. It is not for finding out their secrets; it is because I find people sacred. The purpose of curiosity is not to generate gossip, but to foster fellowship. Ultimately curiosity is about experiencing and loving God who is the ultimate mystery.

My first book was titled God is Plural. It has nothing to do with many Gods but everything to do with the many, who are manifestations of the One God. You experience the One by loving the many. I firmly believe that every human being is created in the image and likeness of God. The more images I connect with, the better picture of God I have. If your circle of concern is too small, your God is likely to be very small. If you have no interest in connecting with the spark of divinity in others, you are more than likely hiding behind walls of fear, suspicion and separation.
Was Jesus curious? I think so. Obviously, people were curious about Jesus. That is why the crowd followed him where ever he went.

There is a beautiful story of a man, in the gospel of Luke chapter 19, who was so curious about Jesus that he climbed on a sycamore tree to see him. His name was Zacheus. Visualize a short, pudgy guy, who was a tax collector, who was despised by society, climbing on a tree and hiding behind leaves to take a peek at Jesus.

It seems like Jesus was equally curious about Zacheus. Zacheus just wanted to just look at Jesus from a distance. But Jesus' curiosity was more personal. He not only stopped under the tree and looked up, he wanted to visit with Zacheus in his house. And we know what happened after that visit. A curious look turned into a life changing event for Zacheus. A greedy man who was exploiting the poor was transformed and he was willing to give away half of his wealth to the poor and pay restitution for all his misdeeds.

Look at the story of Nathaniel who was a friend of Philip whom Jesus had called. (Jn 1). Philip went and told Nathaniel about Jesus. But Nathaniel brushed him off asking “what good can come out Nazareth.” But Philip invited him to come and see.

When he saw Nathaniel approaching, Jesus complimented him by saying: “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is no guile.” Look at the generosity of Jesus complementing a man who had ridiculed him.
Nathaniel was surprised by what Jesus said: “How do you know me”? We haven't met before” We have had no prior contacts.” And Jesus said: “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree, before Philip called you.”
Nathaniel was dumbfounded. He was humbled that Jesus was interested in him even though he was no interested in Jesus. He didn't notice Jesus. But Jesus noticed him. He didn't care for Jesus, but Jesus cared for him. And that changed his life.

How does Jesus care for people today? He uses us, his disciples, to continue his job of caring for people. Jesus has no eyes today, except ours; Jesus has no ears today, except ours; We are the eyes and ears, the hands and feet and heart of Jesus in today's world. We are the ones we have been waiting for.

With deep humility, I would even say: We are the second coming of Christ! I know you have grandiose images about the coming of Christ on chariots of fire with blazing saddles. I think it is indulging in fantasy to escape and avoid our responsibility to be Jesus-like in today's world.

When I tell people at work what kind of car they drive, they are surprised. They look at me like Nathaniel. “How do you know, I never told you about it.” they say. And like Jesus told Nathaniel, I tell them:”When you were getting out of your car at that Nursing home, I saw you.”

As disciples of Jesus, we are called to pay attention to others. We are called to connect with others and care about them. That is our calling card. Don't go through life all wrapped up in your little life. Pay attention to the people around you. Expand your horizons; show concern; be interested in others. Be curious about who they are and what they do. Share stories. It will change your life and theirs too.

Every encounter Jesus had with people were life changing for the people he met.

As disciples, we are called to re-enact and re-create those encounters with people today and transform their lives and ours in that process.