Nikos Kazantzakis is probably best known for writing the book upon which the movie Zorba the Greek is based. After obtaining a law degree, he studied philosophy in Paris and then traveled extensively. He showed a keen interest in finding ways to transition his spiritual, philosophical learnings into practical life experiences. The following excerpt is a poetic look at the relationship between God and human.

"My prayer is not the whimpering of a beggar nor a confession of love. Nor is it the trivial reckoning of a small tradesman: Give me and I shall give you.

My prayer is the report of a soldier to his general: This is what I did today, this is how I fought to save the entire battle in my own sector, these are the obstacles I found, this is how I plan to fight tomorrow.

My God and I are horsemen galloping in the burning sun or under drizzling rain. Pale, starving, but unsubdued, we ride and converse.

"Leader!" I cry. He turns his face towards me, and I shudder to confront his anguish.

Our love for each other is rough and ready, we sit at the same table, we drink the same wine in this low tavern of life." - From The Saviors of God: Spiritual Exercises by Nikos Kazantzakis


Lent is an opportunity to better define your own relationship with God through Christ. What does your journey look like? If your relationship with God were a movie, what kind of movie would it be? Join us for lunch tomorrow and a guest speaker as we learn about the seven deadly sins and our struggles with them during this season of meditation.

Lent Preparation

This coming Wednesday is also known as Ash Wednesday in Western Christin traditions. It is the first day of Lent, a season of meditation and preparation for what will ultimately be Jesus Christ's greatest sacrifice and triumph.

Henri Nouwen is a Roman Catholic priest and psychologist who came to the United States in 1964 from Holland. He has written numerous books and is primarily known for his exploration of the spiritual journey. The following excerpts about true integrity in ministry come from The Living Reminder.

"Ministry is service in the name of the Lord. It is bringing the good news to the poor, proclaiming liberty to captives and new sight to the blind, setting the downtrodden free and announcing the Lord's year of favor (Luke 4:18). Spirituality is attention to the life of the spirit in us; it is going out to the desert or up to the mountain to pray; it is standing before the Lord with open heart and open mind; it is crying out, "Abba, Father"; it is contemplating the unspeakable beauty of our loving God."

"We have fallen into the temptation of separating ministry from spirituality, service from prayer. Our demon says: "We are too busy to pray; we have too many needs to attend to, too many people to respond to, too many wounds to heal. Prayer is a luxury, something to do during a free hour, a day away from work or on a retreat."

Lent is one answer to these temptations. Starting something positive, like a morning devotion, or ending something negative, like eating poorly, can be a first step towards getting your priorities back on track.

Join us on Wednesday at 6:00 for an Ash Wednesday service at central UMC in Decatur, Alabama. Let us help you center your thoughts and prayers on God and His Will for this new lenten season.

Grace and Peace,

Community

Learning how to best share what we have learned at Christmas means also learning how to do so as a community. We are going to be spending eternity with a lot of people and we need to really learn how to get along in the best AND in the worst of times. Our bishop here in the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church, Will Willimon, says that, "What passes for community is, 'You stay out of my life, and in exchange for that I'll stay out of your life, and we'll call that community.'"

That's not going to cut it.

"You start building a good neighborhood when you yourself decide that you will be a good neighbor." - Robert Waldrop

"You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord." - Leviticus 19:18

Dallas Willard is a distinguished philosopher with many books to his credit. One of his books, The Spirit of the Disciplines, speaks of the process involved in the changes that take place in our journey towards a more Christ-like existence.

"For at least several decades the churches of the Western world have not made discipleship a condition of being a Christian. One is not required to be, or to intend to be, a disciple in order to become a Christian, and one may remain a Christian without any signs of progress toward or in discipleship." - From The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard.

We are two weeks away from the beginning of the Lenten season. How are we responding to God's call to share the Christmas story with all the world? How important is our own spiritual journey for sharing Christ with others? Are we simply observers of the Christian way of life or are we striving for real discipleship?

Fried chicken for Wednesday night supper tomorrow night at Central UMC in Decatur! Hope to see you there!

We are still in the midst of the season of the Epiphany. There are two high holy days, Easter and Christmas, and we spend the rest of the year deciding what our response will be! Epiphany means to be revealed or made known. How are we making known to the world the miracle of God's presence in our midst in the form of Jesus?

However and whatever our own call to ministry might be, James Finley has some advice on how to proceed. "Merton once told me to quit trying so hard in prayer. He siad: "How does an apple ripen? It just sits in the sun." A small green apple cannot ripen in one night by tightening all its muscles, squinting its eyes and tightening its jaw in order to find itself the next morning miraculously large, red, ripe, and juicy beside its small green counterparts. Like the birth of a baby or the opening of a rose, the birth of the true self takes place in God's time. We must trust in his hidden action within us." - From Merton's Palace of Nowhere by James Finley.