Sometimes people paint their way into the Kingdom. Sometimes the symbol is where they meet God first. And then they work it down into the other parts of life. Chagal for instance, seems to have met God a time or two, and even old Monet through his enormous water lilies seems to have wrestled his way into the Source of beauty. What artist do once at the gate, is up to them—some come all the way through. But, i’ve seen many encounter what is True directly through their creativity.

Knowledge is one way in, but if He really is at the center of what is Real, Lord over all realms, there are other ways in also. Jesus lives in dream as much as in any other place. Many people have direct encounters through dream or creativity. As my mentor put it. Some people are bent on meeting Him in vision and dream first.

I’ve seen this over and over with artist. We still choose what to do with what or Who we encounter. Whether we want to follow the Polar Star we meet in dream, as Heschel put it.

A life of incarnation isn’t easy, and many decide it’s just too much death to self required-too costly to pursue. Other’s go further in deeper once they meet The Gate. I like watching people meet Him in their art though. It’s direct, sometimes ironic, but always real.

It really is the Rock that all people eventually stumble over, then those who seek will find that Rock even if it breaks them into.

Information is just one way in, so is art. The good news isn’t just information.
I guess i believe in evangelism directly though the creative process. I’ve just seen it happen so many times, that it seems so. What comes after, is up to each of us.

Confess, pray, humble seek, and He will heal. 2 Chron 7:14. That’s how to be healed and to be part of healing our lands. Nothing has changed. We all have sinned and are in need of confession. St John, taught us, but if we are willing to confess our sins, then….everything starts with confession.

Turn and He comes is the spiritual principle. We turn seek confess and He comes and does the healing.

I’m an amateur priest, but i know that much. Personal confession, then for His church or people, then city or land wide. Things then start healing, and we can see them more as they are meant to be, before the deformity of sin set in. If we confess, pray and seek, humble ourselves, He will heal us and our lands. It still works, and is our part to start the healing process in ourselves and our world. Confess the historical sins of yourself, your family, your neighborhood, your city, and you will begin to usher in healing.

Confess often until new life get’s planted there. Confess all known sins and any shown ones as well; confess for your generational sins, anything from the past where others in your family have willfully sinned, then confess again. Confession is a lifestyle of repentance. And it let’s God in. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive others who have trespassed against us. Then your father will also forgive you, Jesus taught.
Confession will give you sight of the new life He is planting in that place in you and others.

Be sure your sins will find you out, so as St John taught, assume you’ve sinned, even in your dreams, i would say, and just start by confessing them, so you can remain in Him, clean and in His Righteousness. We confess, He cleanses and heals.

Confess for whatever you desire to see healed! Confession comes first. Seek out unconfessed areas, if you want to see growth! Especially in praying or priesting for cities. His Eyes and Heart are on His people’s prayers! Confession gives God room to enter and bring new Life!

If you want to help heal a certain domain, start with confession–your own and their sins, and their church’s. Be the church for them. Look at whatever areas are unconfessed start there in healing.

Confess your sins to draw near, to break clear, to see others as dear and nearer.

Often in counseling, i start by looking for unconfessed areas in a person’s life-that area usually gets the healing ball rolling in the right direction! Confession makes room for new life. If we can locate what needs to get confessed, we usually find the main blocks to growth. And as Daniel modeled: confession leads to thanks, praise and new life in that area, for us as individual or for our cities.

Confession is always a good place to start in the healing process. Confess often, it makes room for new life to enter. When God was chatting with Solomon, He told him: If people will humble themselves, pray, confess and seek my Face, i will heal their land. This is still true for individuals and peoples and lands. The Spirit will show us what needs to be confessed, so we can get healing started in each area of our lives.

He is looking for a confessional people right now, so He can break in and heal our lands! Even salvation begins with confession, as does all true healing. Let’s learn to live confessional lifestyles in our own lives and for that of our neighborhoods, cities and nations. Then, as promised, God will come and heal our lands.

The deer last night:

i heard her in the dark forest last night
her hooves were little words caressing earth softly,
gently crushing bark, branches and dry leaves,
the way things get displaced without effort at night,
searching in her type of silence, which only comes across in each cautious step…
with the weightlessness of gliding unseen hooves-
how tenderness walks this earth
must be recalled in our days.
This deer in the dark mulch last night,
taught me that much, with her presence alone.

Talking to a girl last night, who feels like their is no context for her gifts on earth. After locating her central passions, i could see that she was very angry about the world not offering her a space to shine and be herself.

I asked her, what would be your ideal job, and what would you do even if you weren’t paid for it. Can you imagine the space you would most flourish in, outside of the existing structures around you. Can you make a piece of art about your ideal world? Then, try to incarnate that. Often vision comes before action.

We started there, until she decided to make up her own career. “You guys (my generation and the boomers above me) are too caught up in money and success, i just want to live authentically and use my gifts in a valid way, which serves others.” After apologizing on behalf of my own generation for getting too caught up in the rat race (though not all of us have), I told her, I think she’ll find her path prepared beforehand to be her way. As we talked, she started to get a clearer picture of her inner home, and how she might build towards it in the world. Paint me your inner house. Where are you sitting in it? What types of rooms light and colors are in each room.

Can you imagine yourself in a place not caught up by materialism? One, that say, prioritized spiritual or inner growth instead, i asked her. Maybe this real career, begins within.

Sometimes you have to start inside rather than looking for slots already in the world to squeeze into, i said. She liked that. Start with meaning and build outwards. I hope she finds her path, the one she is already on, i think. We ended by talking about her definition of success. Each generation seems to have it’s idea of success. It was a good talk. I learn so much from listening.

When I lived in Cambridge, Mass, I was working mainly with homeless people, and slightly homeless myself, so often looked at Winter’s face to find our own.

For Fall is a flower in the northeast, but winter is inevitable.

And how that long season effects personality development has always caught my inner eye.

We were all equal in that struggle to become ourselves. Still are. I recall each of our names, often.

Like I told my homeless friend tonight again, we’re all in the same place friend.

When I lived in Cambridge, Mass, I was working mainly with homeless people, and slightly homeless myself, so often looked at Winter’s face to find our own.

For Fall is a flower in the northeast, but winter is inevitable.

And how that long season effects personality development has always caught my inner eye.

We were all equal in that struggle to become ourselves. Still are. I recall each of our names, often.

Like I told my homeless friend tonight again, we’re all in the same place friend.

Love thinking about this stuff, and pondering out loud with brothers-thanks guys!

It’s worthy meditation, whether cities themselves were a redemptive idea, or part of the original plan. Many of the prophets, saw a city at the end (both nations relating through a city, and a future type of city descending etc)—Augustine sort of simplified it into the City of God, but folks like Zachariah, Isaiah and others got more specific. There were angels measuring it etc in Ezekiel’s visions. At first it has a temple, then when Father and Son come back fully onto earth to dwell with humans, they are the temple, and the Day shines constantly in that city.

Then, i think you have to look at all the nations streaming to Jerusalem itself at the end, which in all those words of prophecy is still a place etc. Then comes, the new city with the twelve gates (Rev 21)—that’s the new heaven and earth type city. So maybe it’s good to look at it as what happens beforehand, and what happens later. And what part is already in God’s imagination!

If we are in collaboration with Him and we invent an airplane, that was probably already somewhere in His dream life! Yet, i think He likes watching us come up with it on our own so to speak. Maybe it’s like that with cities. But also it seems from early on, that to go out and make collective culture was not intrinsically bad, but part of our creative collaboration with God! Peter Bos the dutch theologian wrote on that well i think.

Regardless, His Dream, seems to involve cities, nations, kings etc…He still seems to want to think collectively like that. And the garden metaphor is there all along! The first task is to tend the garden, to kratos it, that is to complete or cause it to be fruitful! That was Adam’s commission before he fell.

Since, God is One, His garden and city metaphors would be integrated in a way that maybe ours isn’t yet!

But this new city in the new heaven and earth (sort of St John’s sight of what came after Daniel’s vision)…so it seems like it is still part of His imagination to have it imaged as a city—to be a King over a kingdom with cities and nations, but perhaps on another scale. So perhaps that wasn’t just part of human fallenness, but in His original imagination. Just a thought from my perspective an studies on the relationship between city and nature, thus far!

Lastly, he often, as at the beginning of Isaiah, talks to the earth itself as a character. “Listen, heavens and pay attention, earth, for the Lord has spoken…” etc. So there is something of a relationship directly between God and the earth—as we see in Noah’s times, when He makes a covenant with the earth itself—so that would factor in, i think to the garden part of Him. And then you see all the mighty judgments coming down in the seas and waters in most of the end times prophecies, so again it comes through the earth itself and humans have to adjust to that judgement etc.

We make collective representations of ourselves as well, but the prophets seemed to see both a streaming of the nations to a particular city, and a future city of glory where His Throne and Presence were the light. I like thinking about this stuff, thanks guys for considering it!

One of the question goes back to early on—is the fact that Cain became the builder of the first cities, mean that they are intrinsically not of God. I often talk to my “get back to nature” friends about this—to dialogue with that Rousseau philosophy or Thoreau (Walden Pond) or Emerson here in America-both had that dualism between nature and urban, and idealized nature. Same ideas of getting back to nature as the place of peace, rather than working in the cities and helping them shine towards an integrated garden.

SO one of the questions implied here is whether cities were in God’s original imagination before rebellion. It’s a worthy question. I think so, i think He wanted to image Himself through human collectivity, but maybe in a way we have not yet realized. Just some thoughts, since Sam asked me to expand a bit.

Of course, i think and fall in love with cities a lot! And feel that’s part of discipling the nations into all three Names. But it’s cool to think about how nature integrates with city from His Perspective! I’ll keep learnings and considering it, nice that you two wise men are also considering it also! To there’s my brief response, just to expand the discussion!

Like Jeremiah’s times, ours:
Certain stories in scripture are windows into your own time. Most of the book of Jeremiah is for ours.

Reading Jeremiah (my favorite prophet, priest, poet) again today, as a lens on our own times. Shaking of empires, weak leadership, not listening to or being able to recognize, the voice of the Lord (The Voice which is in the tone of Love) coming through Jeremiah etc. There are many parallels to now—increasing shaking between the nations daily. Lots of false interpreters, few true ones. The media was bad in his times (he had to publish several times, as some of his first drafts were burnt!), didn’t think long term or contextualize properly.

Conversely, Jeremiah said that,
“Israel is the Lord’s hallowed portion”-His chosen way to symbolize Himself and actions into history—His central symbol and dwelling place, among the nations, so symbolize His heart for humanity, and the nations. If she would turn, her punishment would be softened. But she was involved in two great evils-rejecting God Himself, and building for themselves their own cisterns.

His sacred symbolic people did two great evils in those days, as we still do. They rejected the fountain of Living Waters (the right Source of Life), and they built for themselves cisterns to hold the water in (their own security system). Rejecting God and building cisterns of our own spirituality-two grave sins which continue now. To stare at our own cisterns is narcissism at it’s worst–relying on our own resources to sustain and heal us, rather than trust in Father. My own talents will carry me into eternity, types of thinking are deadly.

These are two types of sins and are specific. One is rejecting God Himself (even the idea of their being a Most High or something over us who is meant to govern our thoughts and actions), the other is forging our own containers of spirituality. We cannot even begin to heal without recognizing a Higher God from whom we need help. We are sinners in need of God. If we throw out sin, we are not in a position to be in need. We have sinned and are in need of Higher Healer.

The water speaks of whatever type of spirituality we fill our hearts with. And they were guilty of building their own spiritualities rather than the one provided by God. To reject God, and to build our own spiritual containers—both of these sins put them in a place about to be more severely judged. He would rather not, and offers ways out. Jeremiah said if the king surrendered the city would be spared. The prophet was thrown into the pit for that “word”. Had many accusers, and one advocate—Ebem Melech the african, who pleaded to the king to let Jeremiah, the prophet out of the pit. Those are the characters in the story.

The plot is about a nation being judged for denying there is a God, and for making up their own systems of spirituality instead. Interesting.
God offered them a way out, but they didn’t take it again. A Mercy path, which they wouldn’t walk because they feared the wrong things.

So, in their case, Jerusalem and the temple was destroyed. Wives were raped, men were humiliated and mocked etc. That was the word. Both your feminine and masculine would be demoted, destroyed. And it happened.

Jeremiah warned, interpreted and offered future hope; he also bore witness in his own poetic heart (was very human, complained lamented even quit the job once), to the suffering, and stayed in Jerusalem to see it destroyed- openly seeing and lamenting poetically God’s Heart, during the burning and rape of his city. Wondering where the Jeremiah’s are in our times? We need some.

Those risen up to warn beforehand, and sit with during, interpreting the news of the day (his outer court job), counsel kings both good and bad ones, and offer future vision afterwards from God’s perspective. We need those guys around these days!

We need some Jeremiah’s these days. Enjoying looking at the world through his times today. I like looking at the stories in the book as lenses to see through into and interpret our own times more accurately. Human patterns haven’t changed. Nor has God. Fun and weighty study today. Information has different densities! Jeremiah’s time had a weight which is present now.

We are in times like his, and need to consider our steps. And the patterns of those who didn’t follow His before.

Blessing for women!

Sorry, every once and awhile, i just have a pure father moment….a steam directly from his Heart. Wanted to share this one!
Listen women! I just want to bless you all from a place of wholeness from a man of God (obviously by His Grace), who is not in competition with you or wanting to abuse or use you, or who needs you for my own needs. Be blessed and seen women! I’m very thankful for you all.
In the midst of so much confusion (crisis in distinctions-gender and every other area!), just want you all to know how dearly you are loved, appreciated, covered, and seen, adored, cared for, and warred for. Speaking from His father heart to you all. Be blessed lovely sisters, wives, mothers, grandmothers! Father love to you in the deeper spaces of your subtle, and unseen, and ever more becoming beautiful, parts of your hearts. You are dearly loved cared for and seen. Sorry for all our sins against you, but we are here, and care about your journey, and will protect it. Sorry for any areas we have not been enough present! Much love, from true (by His Grace) father’s in Him, everywhere. D
You are seen and loved by me in His Father’s Heart! Just so you know. We must surpass gender wars in order to allow His Kingdom to come in. Let’s love one another. It’s about the time!

America you are tired, stop taking yourselves so seriously.

Time to just pray and serve. Make good burgers for the poor and outcast. Try to remember who you really want to be-your first love. You don’t have to be in the spotlight to do something actually important!

Just BE it America, don’t worry about the DO it part for a second. You can’t do, when you don’t know who you are. Draw in and heal. Pull back in the stripes of your tattered flag until the red turns to healing blood. Become who you really are again, the world will probably still need it, eventually.

As for now, draw within and pray to recall who you really are. And those who are still humble enough to pray, pray! God still likes you, but it’s getting frustrating for Him, and us all as well. It’s ok if you can’t lead now, if you must, then lead by healing yourself in public.

Work on Silence America. That’s not an easy task for your personality, i understand.

Work on entering Wisdom’s quietness. Work on pausing before you speak. Work on only moving in Love’s tones. Work on not reacting to the instant news. While your leadership pulpit sinks, let your latter words be spoken in humility and kindness–let the best of your heart shine as you go down willingly. Let your inner conversion become your story, while the cameras are still rolling friend. Be happy to decrease if He increases. Try to be a John the Baptist if you still have in you!

I don’t know why the world followed a teenager, maybe you had to parent too soon. Sorry, but you still have a role to play–how about clapping for other nations who are now doing it better, and sitting on the back row, until you have a more fully formed word in your heart.

America, i still love you, you were a great idea, despite your current performance. Your heart is still pumping, but your mind needs to humble into Wisdom’s rhythms, the child must respect the parent. The parts which constantly react, must come into the garden, before moving in action. Your flag is over-extended. It has been for years. He will reel it down and heal the tatters, if you go low. You are entering amnesia as your parents did, humble yourselves enough, and you will recall your story again. The Narrator is still speaking over you, but your streets are becoming schizophrenic. And…

Watch your comedians, they are telling more of the truth now. At least they are trying to speak well. God still loves you, but you are currently rudderless friend. A good leader knows when to step off the stage, and let others guide, until they are centered again. America, you are not centered. Work on being a monk for awhile until you remember your deeper self. Your desire to love, serve and care for the oppressed is still in there, but you need to sit with yourself and your God for a while.

And other nations, stop looking to her for leadership for a while, she’s in spiritual therapy for few seasons. Maybe that will give you room to seek something Higher than America as your Ultimate. And please pray for her-she’s a bloody mess.

And America, I still love you. But you have to get over yourself to become yourself again now! And by the way, I’m still enamored and in love with you- lovely bright hopeful, good soiled, inventive, golden freedom dreamer friend!