be reflective with meditations by Dave Andrews
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‘Bismillah’ – Ramadan Reflections 3
Week 3 Day 1 I am meditating on the Bismillah – Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim. This week I want to reflect on the phrase ir-Rahim. Both rahman and rahim are derived from the Semitic root rhm, which signifies the womb and nourishing-tenderness and loving-kindness. According to Ibn Qayyum (1350 AD), rahman describes the quality of limitless […]
Read the rest of this entry » Read the rest of this entry »‘Bismillah’ – Ramadan Reflections 2
Week 2 Day 1 I am meditating on the Bismillah – Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim. This week I want to reflect on the phrase ir-Rahman. Both rahman and rahim are derived from the Semitic root rhm which ‘indicates something of the utmost tenderness and kindness which provides protection and nourishment’ from which the creation is brought […]
Read the rest of this entry » Read the rest of this entry »‘Bismillah’ – Ramadan Reflections 1.
Week 1 Day 1 I will be observing Ramadan and meditating on the Bismillah this month. The Bismillah stands for the Arabic phrase Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim, a beautiful poetic phrase my Muslim friends say contains the true essence of the Qur’an, indeed the true essence of all religions. Every chapter of the Qur’an (except the ninth […]
Read the rest of this entry » Read the rest of this entry »Perserverance, Despair and Jesus
After everything is said and done; the Gospel proclaimed, the Spirit displayed, the possibilities presented, the people empowered; Jesus is confronted with what everyone who has ever sought to change the world is left […]
Read the rest of this entry » Read the rest of this entry »Salvation, Suffering And Jesus
The garden is very beautiful. And Jesus has come to partake of the beauty, of the quiet grass, and the strong, but gentle olive trees. He has come to pray amidst the greenery and serenity of the garden of Gethsemane, enhanced enchantingly, in the moonlight. It is a time of portent, a night […]
Read the rest of this entry » Read the rest of this entry »Incarnation, Frustration And Jesus
Jesus has just discovered his mission in life.. He has decided not only to be involved; but also to take a lead in the movement. He is determined to lead by personal example, by embodying the ideals of the movement. He is determined to be loving, and to be just, and to give […]
Read the rest of this entry » Read the rest of this entry »Vocation, Temptation And Jesus
The scene is barren. Jesus has journeyed into the wilderness to a place the Jews call Jeshimmon, ‘the place of devastation.’ He finds himself amidst blasted hills and broken valleys, in a bare land strewn with hard boulders, where only the slow dust speaks. It is the ruin of a land; the […]
Read the rest of this entry » Read the rest of this entry »Faith As Taking A Risk To Act
Someone asked me what faith was. And this was my reply to his question. Faith is not what we believe. Thats belief. Rather faith is the willingness to take a risk to act on what we say we believe. Thats faith. So if communities become increasingly risk averse there is no way they can be communities of […]
Read the rest of this entry » Read the rest of this entry »“Let Your Light Shine”: Radicalism In The Sermon On The Mount.
Dave Andrews In a much-cited article entitled “Resist not evil:” Conservatism in The Sermon on the Mount, published in The Busy Signal, J.A. Meyerson states that ’The main thrust of the Nazarene’s doctrine is: if you the poor are abused, exploited, stolen from, made to suffer or otherwise racked with injustice, grin and bear it. […]
Read the rest of this entry » Read the rest of this entry »Peter, Adrienne & Cabramatta Gardens
Not all of us will be able to pack up our bags and join a team in New Delhi, Kolkata, Bangkok, Manila, or Phnom Penh. In which case my next story – of ‘Peter and Adrienne and the Cabramatta Gardens’ – is the story just for you. Peter, and his wife Adrienne, wanted to go […]
Read the rest of this entry » Read the rest of this entry »Mike & Karen & The Kahawaha Slum
For the last five years I have been an elder for Servants to Asia’s Urban Poor. Servants is a network of spiritual communities committed to living and working holistically with the poor in Asia’s urban slums. Servants have been going for twenty years, and they have developed communities in India, Thailand, Cambodia, and the Philippines. […]
Read the rest of this entry » Read the rest of this entry »Power With And Within
If we are going to embody the kingdom of heaven on earth there are a few steps that, sooner or later, we all need to take. The first step we all need to take is a step of integrity. This is a personal step. When we decide that we can live ‘divided no more’ but […]
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