True stories bring such fascination The church I live is a celebration So encouraging to live with right intention Being given in its right attention
The best sermons are those seen Live out well by Christians being Being that best that we are And living large following the Christmas star
Blessed by that holy, sacred kiss Can you make the room to imagine this The promises of leading through epiphany Our lives are made large by gifts of plenty
God opens our eyes to finally see The purpose of life seen through clarity Life lived with full sense of compassion This then was and is God's truest passion
It's okay to offend the Pharisees It's a case of theology versus ministry Welcoming the worst to peace and dinner Jesus turned the worst into winners
Without sin there is no need for grace This is the case first we must embrace Bringing others up by going after the one Never assuming the worse, but that God's will be done
Acceptance and approval are not the same But to serve correctly is not to blame God repeats in order to slowly teach The lost sheep that he wants to reach
The Father gave two sons everything But sinning choices bring us to nothing Only to become embraced once again with a kiss To become alive again with noting to miss
We have a discernable habit of getting lost Caught in webs spun at huge cost Maybe all this is necessary to finally see The path forward is in self-discovery
At our lowest level are the lessons taught Even when not the necessarily those sought All of life is given for truth's illumination Audibly, well-read, and in need of best imagination
As prodigal children, we finally return home And when we are apart, we were never really alone Let's celebrate the joys that life willingly brings And joined together, lift our voices as we sing
Once the same as dead, we are again found Brought to the edge of cliff, to bring us around The good we live, if judgmentally, is misbegotten Compared to Jesus, we are like rags soon forgotten
Pharisees, Sadducees, then there's you and me Let's never forget that love is our true theology Our standards of goodness barely grasp at holiness It is a true belief we teach while reaching for bliss
Like prodigals, we are part of God's blessed family In a tale of our spared expense told in a homily To become aware of the deep love we are born to live Turning to one another and finally learning to forgive
(c) January 29, 2023 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.” -Edward Abbey, naturalist and author (29 Jan 1927-1989)
“Wisdom, and good examples are necessary at this time to rescue the political machine from the impending storm.” – George Washington, Letter to James Madison (November 5, 1786)
“That community is already in the process of dissolution where each man begins to eye his neighbor as a possible enemy, where nonconformity with the accepted creed, political as well as religious, is a mark of disaffection; where denunciation, without specification or backing, takes the place of evidence; where orthodoxy chokes freedom of dissent; where faith in the eventual supremacy of reason has become so timid that we dare not enter our convictions in the open lists, to win or lose.” -Learned Hand, jurist (27 Jan 1872-1961)
“As riches increase and accumulate in few hands, as luxury prevails in society, virtue will be in a greater degree considered as only a graceful appendage of wealth, and the tendency of things will be to depart from the republican standard.” – Alexander Hamilton (1788)
“We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person.” -William Somerset Maugham, writer (25 Jan 1874-1965)
“The true meaning of America, you ask? It’s in a Texas rodeo, in a policeman’s badge, in the sound of laughing children, in a political rally, in a newspaper… In all these things, and many more, you’ll find America. In all these things, you’ll find freedom. And freedom is what America means to the world. And to me.” – Medal of Honor recipient Audie Murphy
Heading out of Australia to escape this Aussie winter. First stop Japan, then UK/Ireland and if work doesn't call me back, onto Chicago. I will make it up as I go along
