Day 123d: Cooler waters, warmer Words … (August 30, 2019)
I then made it to the New Hope Orthodox Presbyterian Church (on the side of Jefferson Pike Rd, about halfway between the city of Frederick & the hamlet of Jefferson), where the newness of its (to me at the time unknown) denomination piqued my curiosity enough to have me knocking on its door. Pastor Francis answered my summons and invited me inside for some cold water and warm conversation – the former of which soothed my parched throat while the latter of which inspired a profound exchange of ideas about the vast differences between Paul’s teachings of “the glory gospel” vs Jesus’ Way which advocated a gospel far more “social.” I gently-yet firmly found myself advocating the latter, while Francis smilingly disagreed while championing the former. In the end we respectfully agreed to disagree as I then made my way back out onto The Way, but not before – to his humble credit – Francis had given me enough cruelty-free sustenance to fuel the rest of the day’s venturing …
[NOTE 01: Real faith is receiving an entire bag of roasted almonds during a peace pilgrimage, eating only a few handfuls of the same, and then jettisoning the rest for the benefit of any & all nearby animal friends. NOTE 02: Any “bad fruit” that comes from the application of a particular Bible verse does not mean that the verse itself is wrong per se, but rather that one’s interpretation of the same is faulty. Keep searching for a more loving way of reading, and The Way will ever be revealed!]
“Jews may say that Hebrew is the language of God. Christians may say that Aramaic is the language of God. Muslims will say that Arabic is the language of God. And Hindus will say that Sanskrit is the language of God. Of course, all of these believers are incorrect, for the essence of the Divine is far beyond any one particular language. Indeed, the language of God is not found in any language at all. For the language of God is only truly heard in bold acts of loving kindness.” ~ via Abhijit Naskar
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