Intersect

The Temple Mount in Jerusalem was originally the site of the First and Second Temples mentioned in the Bible. The Mount is now home to the Dome of the Rock, a magnificent Islamic Mosque. Unfortunately, the interior of the Mosque is as off-limits to non-Muslims as the original Holy of Holies was to non-Jews (and even Jews who were not of the Priesthood). It's unfortunate because, in my opinion, no house of worship should be off limits to anyone looking for a place to connect with God. No matter what we call ourselves, if we are seeking a moment with God and are called to Temple, Mosque, Church or Synagogue, we should be allowed inside. In fact, we should be warmly invited to share in the presence of Universal Love.   Instead, we set up gatekeepers and use them in the very wrong sense of the word. A gatekeeper isn't supposed to keep people out. A gatekeeper is supposed to shepherd people inside. We misunderstand the word in our modern era because too many of us live in gated...

Walls. We all run into them now and then. Perhaps we’ve even built one or two. Sometimes, when we’re running low on creative fuel, we might say we’ve “hit a brick wall.” If we're being forced into an uncomfortable situation, we might feel like we "have our backs against a wall." For protection, we hide behind walls, and when we see injustice in the world, we strive to tear them down. We face physical and psychological walls often throughout our lives. As we journey with God on a spiritual path to a closer relationship with God we hit many, many walls. Others erect walls that block our spiritual journey for a variety of reasons: belief in God is passé; religion is just another corporation trying to control you; spiritual experiences are tricks of the mind. As seekers of relationship with God, we are bombarded with ideas designed to make us think twice about being a person of faith, a sojourner toward spiritual wholeness. Jumping the hurdles of the outside world is only hal...

Thank you, Great Eternal Presence, for blessing us with awareness of a deeper reality, beyond the shallow noise of this artificially sweetened world. Holy God of all creation, feel  our natural love for you, as we feel your love permeate the very fabric of our being. Help us experience the intimate nearness of you. Impel us to  know that you are the very cells in our bodies; the atoms in our cells; the electrons orbiting around the nucleus. You are our nucleus, Holy and Infinite God, and we are your atoms. Charge us with positive energy. [pause to meditate] Sense our trust in you. Every day we sing, think, write, dance, laugh and cry because we are so overwhelmed by your intense, loving energy. You well up within us, and when we are fully aware of your presence within, you burst forth like a ray of light, revealing a word of incredible beauty, and a people of deep compassion. Make us beautiful, Loving God. Make us compassionate, Holy Source. [pause to meditate] You break us...

God of infinite love and grace, we come to you ever thankful for your abundance of love, for this place of worship, and for this time of prayer. [pause for meditation] We appreciate that our faith binds us to each other, and to all which is holy. We realize that the holiness we experience in and from you is most powerfully reflected, when we see and experience holiness in each other (and realize  there is no other) . You bind us together, loving emanations of your one, great Spirit. [pause for meditation] And yet we confess that there are some people to whom we do not  feel  bound. There are times when we build walls instead of opening doors. We turn a deaf ear to those in pain or in need of our counsel, because we are too busy to open the doors of our hearts. Sometimes, when we listen, we listen poorly. We talk when we should be silent, and we are mute when we should use our voices to destroy the walls of apathy, reluctance, hatred, and fear. [pause for meditation] Make...