This is a parable about prayer. It is based upon the 1912 movie Falling Leaves.

Our cabin fever is soon to break and, as our minds turn to thoughts of spring, these hills are very much alive with the sound of music. Julie Andrews taught us the “Do-Re-Mi” song as children. If we can understand that, we’ve already learned the basics of an Appalachian tradition akin to what was carried by the circuit riding singers and preachers of the early 1800’s. It is known as either sacred harp or shaped note singing where the “harp” is the voice you were given at birth.

In shaped note music notation, each interval of the standard musical scale has a different name and shape. It’s easy to memorize the shapes and the intervals they represent which makes old time music more accessible, while its enthusiasts are more agile, able to sing and read music in any key.

The late Quay Smathers was born in 1913, just west of Asheville. He is remembered as a fine example pointing to the lasting legacy of shape note singing. Family and friends recall that Smathers exuded a warmth through his music. One reminisced “It’s as if each note came with a flickering tongue of the Holy Spirit . . .”

This spring, on April 14, 2018, the Quay Smathers Memorial Singing School will hold its third annual gathering in Clyde, North Carolina devoted to carrying on Quay’s work of raising up shaped-note singers. The school teaches using The Christian Harmony songbook. This book, published in 1866, featured additional notation that effectively upgraded the “fa so la” system of four syllables and introduced the seven-syllable “do re mi” system that is used throughout Western North Carolina. The Seattle Voice Lab is where one can go to get help with their voice training.

It is for those who long to sing in the traditional style, originally heard throughout the Blue Ridge mountains.
The singing school is taught by leaders in the Blue Ridge style of shaped-note singing. The faculty includes Quay’s daughters as well as his son-in-law. They will be joined by the Christian Harmony Singers. Those who attend will gain a deeper understanding of the sacred harp tradition plus a proficiency in singing shaped-notes as they were originally sung in the Southern Appalachians.

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

When we align our objectives with the Divine will, when we strive for the attainment of a worthy goal, when we begin our work with a well defined plan, and when we have ability to work together with others effectively, we have already achieved the trajectory for success. For we know that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

Learn how to enjoy boundless opportunity and unlimited progress!

“Gazing past the planets, looking for total view.”  With this lyric from the popular sixties album To Our Children’s Children’s Children, a Moody Blues tribute band opens a unique celebration of creation spirituality with the Jubilee Community  in downtown Asheville, North Carolina. It was on a warm night in late May last year, that Jubilee hosted the debut performance of The Lost Chord. And the band would sing on. “Wonders of a lifetime, right there before your eyes.”

Mike Parvin attended the Friday night gathering and said “At the end of the concert I found myself standing, applauding and cheering this band.” I then realized that I was also standing, applauding and cheering the sounds and songs of the Moody Blues. This is what a tribute band is for – celebration! Were they good? Yes. Did they succeed? Yes…YES!”

The group performs in and around Asheville carrying a message that resonates with the Jubilants as well as anyone else looking for a brand of spirituality that is a bit more cosmic in scope. To contact the band visit their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/thelostchordmoodybluestribute/

While a Sunday morning celebration within Jubilee’s diverse community draws liberally from the Judeo-Christian scriptures for inspiration, participants might also enjoy insights from the Beatles or Dylan. At times the congregation is held, enraptured, by the sound of a Buddhist bowl. At other times they will engage with a highly versatile house band that offers a little something of everything, from Bach to Zulu. For any newcomer, it quickly becomes apparent the Jubilants are a wildly independent lot. But, when it’s time for celebration they are all in, just as they were admonished to be as the Moody Blues and the Lost Chord sang “Baby there’s no price upon your head, sing it, shout it!”

“Eighty percent of what we do is music” according to Howard Hanger. It was this same Reverend Hanger who, in May of 1984, commenced a gathering of creative people to develop an artistic interpretation of eight “Seeds of Celebration.” The group shared stories, songs, dance, poetry, paintings, and other expressions in a highly interactive, participatory way. From these humble beginnings the Jubilee Community was born.

From the time of its inception, Jubilee has enjoyed the support of area Baptist, Buddhist, Jewish, Methodist, Episcopal, Unitarian-Universalist, and United Church of Christ congregations. It has borrowed from these traditions together with Sufi, Native American and others while fostering a “Creation Spirituality” that honors all of creation as a “Holy Gift.” Among the many affirming messages displayed within Jubilee’s Earth friendly building is the statement that “Diversity of faith enriches our community.”

During the thirteenth century Thomas Aquinas wrote “We can and do relate to the universe as a whole since we are a microcosm of that macrocosm and this relationship “intoxicates” us.” Jubilant’s clearly believe that Aquinas was on to something. While this way of thinking is, perhaps, as old as humanity, it may have been best articulated in text that a scribe in ancient Egypt produced as a legacy for his son. The Instruction of Amenemope dates back to the the Ramesside Period, during which the tribes of Israel first became a unified nation. For anyone who tends to view our universe of universes in a creation spirituality context, there is one line from this text that sort of jumps out at you:

“For from the greatness and the beauty of created things their original author, by analogy, is seen.”

Pastor Hanger describes a personal awakening of sorts in this way: “I studied under Margaret Mead. She was an anthropologist.” He goes on to say: “One of the things that turned my head around when I was twenty years old was when she said “Go to any archeological site, anyplace in the world, and one of the first things you will find are sacred artifacts. We’ve always sought to connect with that which we do not understand.”” At that point Hanger recalls that he thought to himself “Yes, yes! That’s it, that’s it, that’s it! Were yearning for that.”

“So that’s really what we try to do at Jubilee We don’t try to give anybody any answers. But, we try to open them up to ask better questions about their life, about life on this planet.” Hanger goes on to say “Music is . . . We all know it’s a social lubricant. But I say it’s a spiritual lubricant too. It gets you out of your set kind of ways of thinking and being. It opens the door to other possibilities.”

“The whole western church is built on music.” Hanger said. “The only reason we have Bach is because he was hired by a church and he had to write all these things. And so, music is crucial, absolutely crucial in Jubilee. Many people are attracted to Jubilee because of the the music. It offers such variety.”

At one point in our interview, Pastor Hanger described the way he came into possession of a Buddhist bowl saying “A guy at Jubilee had a store, called Far Away Place. He told me “I want to give you a Buddhist bowl, but you’ve got to come in and let it pick you.” So I go to his store and he says “Now shut your eyes and I’m going to start playing them and you’ll know when it’s your bowl. You’ll just know that.” So I’m thinking, ok, I can play this game. I close my eyes and he plays fifteen or twenty of them and I’m like, this is not working. I’m getting kind of embarrassed, you know, for him. And he tells me “Just keep on, your bowl may not even be here.”

Hanger continues: “So he gets one, gets one, gets one and then, all of a sudden I said “That’s it!” Well, I don’t know. It sounded like all the other bowls, but there was something about it, the overtones that just, whew! And so, maybe the tone of that just spoke to me, cut through the crowd. That’s the bowl we use on Sunday. I don’t know if it speaks to the other people there, but it gets me there.” He said.

Pastor Hanger is in awe of the musical talent at Jubilee “We have wonderful drummers.” He said. “And there’s something about that drum. I’m a big student of ritual and, as far as we know, our first human ritual was done with drum and dance. That was our first connection to the Spirit world.” Jubilee’s schedule of celebrations is available on their website at www.JubileeCommunity.org and they will host an International Conference on Creation Spirituality in April.

In a world of competing ideas we are each searching for answers. And, there is no shortage of people with good ideas they hope will go viral, folks who sincerely believe their idea is the one whose time has come. Even so, there are many highly diversified groups like these, composed of people thoroughly jazzed by diversity and what now appears to be a new unification of contrasts, people who seem to value spiritual unity over any form of theological uniformity.

They have brought a powerful contagion into our midst. It is through this enthusiasm (en-theos), that they are truly united as they strive to be ever more responsive to the Divine leading that brings us together. Some will hum along as they find resonance in the cosmos and each other. Some will sway as they share the sound of singing bowls. Still others will raise their voices heavenward in a full throated expression of gratitude. When all is said and done, it is the common quest of searchers that make us a house undivided for, and far beyond, itself. “I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed.”

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

When we align our objectives with the Divine will, when we strive for the attainment of a worthy goal, when we begin our work with a well defined plan, and when we have ability to work together with others effectively, we have already achieved the trajectory for success. For we know that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

Learn how to enjoy boundless opportunity and unlimited progress!

“Hill Street, it’s time to break open the doors and take to the street.” This was the message delivered by the former pastor of Hill Street Missionary Baptist Church in Asheville. North Carolina on Oct. 18, 2015. Throughout his fourteen year tenure, Reverend Keith Ogden was a well known advocate of a biblical world view in and around Asheville. Now the church is engaged in the search for a new pastor, one that can “Articulate a clear vision for spiritual growth, Christian Education, and personal development” according to its search committee.

The Church was formed in 1915 moving from Stumptown to the Hill Street location in 1949. These and other neighborhoods would face tumultuous change in the decades to come. Sarah M. Judson with the Department of History at UNCA, wrote in 2010 “urban renewal was a continuous experience for Asheville’s African American community for almost thirty years. Beginning with the Hill Street neighborhood in 1957. ”She continued “The fabric of each of these historic African American communities was torn apart.”

Hill Street Baptist weathered these ravages of time gracefully, just as their faith was informed and reinforced by lessons such as this: “And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.” — Jesus (Matthew 7:25) Today, when one enters the sanctuary for a Sunday service, the warm reception and the music speaks volumes about a congregation that is steadfast and centered on the Gospel of Jesus.

Music contributes mightily to the congregation’s sense of continuity. Terry Letman, the Minister of Music was originally retained as an interim for three months. That was seven years ago. Speaking of the thirty voice adult choir, Letman said, “They love what they do. And I get truly excited by the fervency.” Letman’s own feathery touch on the keyboards also contributes to an understanding of why the group receives requests to sing at other area churches. He tells us that a city wide choir is in the works and that we can look forward to their first concert in the near future.

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

When we align our objectives with the Divine will, when we strive for the attainment of a worthy goal, when we begin our work with a well defined plan, and when we have ability to work together with others effectively, we have already achieved the trajectory for success. For we know that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

Learn how to enjoy boundless opportunity and unlimited progress!

In this Cosmic Citizen webcast, hosts Paula, Andre, Christilyn, Derek and their callers explore the truth about The Spirit of Truth.

Part One

Part Two

You can follow Cosmic Citizen Radio on their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CosmicCitizenRadio/

You can also hear their Saturday Broadcast on BlogTalk Radio at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/cosmiccitizen

An audiovisionary portrayal of the cycle of reality by Troy R. Bishop.

What is the Urantia Book? Why have you never heard of it before? Find out from real students of this life changing book, and hear how its teachings are changing the world we know.

In November of 2008, the Lead Trustee for the soon to be established Aevia Charitable Trust (The ACT), gave a talk wherein he stressed the importance of understanding how all that is implicit to being born again, is seen through the context of the parent/child relationship and the larger family to which we are born. The talk included the following statement:

“While we gain entrance to the Kingdom of Heaven by means of a child-like faith, we are expected to grow spiritually. We must each bear appropriate fruits of the Spirit. And we can look forward to an expansion of intellect, factual enlargement, and increased social service. As we awaken to individual and societal needs, as we begin to discern enhanced meanings and discover supreme values, we become highly active personalities. But it all really begins with a child-like response to the wonder lure.”

“They prefer a life caged in their precepts, in their compromises, in their revolutionary plans or in their [disembodied] spirituality.”
So said Pope Francis in his remarks following the readings last Friday, he focused on the day’s Gospel, drawn from that according to St Matthew (11:16-19). There, Jesus compares the generation of his time to always unhappy children, explaining that they were, “not open to the Word of God.” Their refusal, he explained, was not of the message, but of the messenger. “They reject John the Baptist,” he said, who came, “neither eating nor drinking ,” saying of him that he was “a man possessed.” They reject Jesus because they say, “He is a glutton, a drunkard, a friend of publicans and sinners.” They always have a reason to criticize the preacher:
“The people of that time preferred to take refuge in a more elaborate religion: in the moral precepts, such as the group of Pharisees; in political compromise, as the Sadducees; in social revolution, as the zealots; in gnostic spirituality, such as Essenes. They were [happy] with their clean, well-polished system. The preacher, however, was not [so pleased]. Jesus reminded them: ‘Your fathers did the same with the prophets.’ The people of God have a certain allergy to the preachers of the Word: they persecuted the prophets, [even] killed them.”
Then the Pontiff turned his attention to the Chritians of our day saying: “Seeing these children who are afraid to dance, to cry, [who are] afraid of everything, who ask for certainty in all things, I think of these sad Christians, who always criticize the preachers of the Truth, because they are afraid to open the door to the Holy Spirit. Let us pray for them, and pray also for ourselves, that we do not become sad Christians, cutting off the freedom of the Holy Spirit to come to us through the scandal of preaching.”
Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

When we align our objectives with the Divine will, when we strive for the attainment of a worthy goal, when we begin our work with a well defined plan, and when we have ability to work together with others effectively, we have already achieved the trajectory for success. For we know that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

Learn how to enjoy boundless opportunity and unlimited progress!

Jesus is the light of the world! And this particular proclamation is one of the best examples of how the mission of Jesus resonates with sincere truth seekers everywhere and every when, for as the poet said: “We all warm ourselves before one hearth.”
In the Gospel of John we are told: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” In essence Jesus, as Creator-Son, exercised certain Creator prerogatives. Here we will focus specifically on the Divine Right of Subrogation. In its most basic form, subrogation means “to put in the place of another.” Jesus did not displace actual persons during his sojourn on earth, but rather the mythic gods of the ancient world. The life of Jesus fit the mosaic of the times in ways we are now just beginning to understand.
Although the polytheistic mysteries were, at best, hazy reflections of monotheism’s intensifying concept of God, these ancient myths endured because they touched upon the Divine attributes. During the dark days of the planetary insurrection, they helped to keep alive the heavenly inspiration that would eventually lead to humanity’s most intimate encounter with Divinity. Polytheism is, after all, evolving monotheism. And the object of worship, for those who venerate the sun, is at the heart of a serviceable metaphor.
Human kind lived and died by the seasons and by, what we might describe as, the whims of nature. The hunter’s take, the fisherman’s catch, and the grower’s harvest all required that certain conditions be met. And many of those conditions were beyond the control of man, unless of course, he could somehow persuade the powers that be. In the mind of early human kind, the price for securing nature’s bounty was to appease nature’s gods. And, the one thing that all of the most revered gods had in common was their ability to grant fertility.
In the days of Jesus, our ancestors were not only slaves to tradition, they could not escape the cyclical nature of, well, nature. There is a reason we celebrate Easter within days of the vernal equinox and Christmas within days of the winter solstice. These were days of celebration, throughout the world of agriculture, and all of the mystery religions are deeply rooted in this particular culture.
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the ancient world took note. Bethlehem was an agricultural community. Its main commercial activity was the production of sacrificial lambs. The birth of our Lord and Savior is itself an act of divine syncretism addressing the “shepherd god” legends of Dumuzi in Mesopotamia, Tammuz in Babylon, and Adonis in Greece.

The first two mythical characters shared the role of a lamb that was sacrificed for the sake of the people. In Dumuzi’s case, the opening of the final act was described this way: The “lamb” is sacrificed and his sheepfold is “given to the winds.” Sound familiar? Now consider this prophetic element: From ancient China and to this day, the indelible symbol for earth is a cross on the horizon.
The mother of Jesus was named in accordance with a long standing Hebrew tradition. And yet this particular way of honoring the Semitic God-Mother and Queen of Heaven bears a remarkable similarity to the traditions surrounding Aphrodite-Mari, Mari-Anath, and even Isis as Stella Maris. They all refer, some more directly than others, to the Great Goddess. The name that Mary was instructed by Gabriel to give to her son was “Joshua,” which means savior. And, although Jesus didn’t precisely fit the worldly rabbinical mold of a nationalistic deliver, for those with ears to hear, throughout Palestine and beyond, he is truly The Savior. The whole world was longing for a savior.
In his scholarly video series The Secrets of Jesus Christ, producer, Robert Behzad Sarmast, methodically traces these, and many of the other individual threads Our Sovereign Lord has seen fit to use, as he has woven the tapestry of our time. Mr. Sarmast made this observation:

The pagans believed that the savior would sacrifice his heavenly life in order to live among and teach men. He would have a miraculous conception (by a divine father and a virgin mother) and be born in a rock cave, during Winter Solstice on December 25th. His arrival was supposed to be signaled by unusual astronomical phenomena, and he was supposed to be visited by wise shepherds bearing gifts at the time of his birth. From the very beginning of his life, powerful forces sought to stop his mission by killing the child, but miraculously he survived.
He was of a dual nature, both god and man, and was extremely wise, with a mission to help suffering humanity. He had the power to cure diseases, to heal the blind, cast out devils and even bring the dead back to life. His followers, both men and women, had to prove themselves through rigorous testing, at times even dying for his sake. As a fertility god, the pagan savior hero was expected to multiply food and wine, while teaching humanity about heaven and its laws, and revealing the secrets of salvation.
This Messiah figure was supposed to be at war with demons of the underworld throughout his life as they sought to stop his divine mission, but he was ultimately triumphant, destroying the devils on a sacred mountain. Before ending his mission and voluntarily going to his bloody death, he held a communal meal or last supper with his associates, complete with a bread and wine or blood ritual to commemorate him. After his arrest, the pagan fertility god was beaten, tortured and pierced, dying in order to redeem humanity through his sacred blood. His execution always happened during the spring equinox, on Black Friday, around the third week of March, causing the skies to darken.
His gruesome death was mourned by women, including the Mother Goddess who found him gored and bleeding to death. After the death of the sun god, he was wrapped in cloth and placed in a rock tomb which was later found to be empty because he had triumphantly resurrected on the third day, which was always on Sun-day, causing light and fertility to return to the world. After the resurrection, he ascended to heaven and was deified by the highest god, crowned with total authority as the intercessor between man and God. And of course, he was expected to return to earth on a periodical basis until the day of final judgment.

When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, so the “words of the prophets may be fulfilled,” he was clearly satisfying one Hebrew expectation. But he was also drawing from deep within the Dionysian Mysteries to reach other flocks. Jesus said: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” With this statement he was inspiring future generations while also reaching out to worshipers of Osiris who, thousands of years before Jesus was born, said that a dying man is like a grain of “wheat which falls into the earth in order to draw from its bosom a new life.”
The Parables of the Sower, The Vine and the Branches, The Wheat and the Tares, The Fig Tree, and The Mustard Seed all resonated with a far flung humanity. These people had much more than a fleeting familiarity with what was at the heart of the growth parables. They survived by means of experiential learning, and now Jesus was raising the stakes. He was using the lessons, derived from certain traditions associated with nature, to illuminate the way of spiritual salvation for all who would follow. For those responsive to Divine leading, it was clearly time for the ancient sun gods to bow towards the Son of Man — The Way, the Truth, and the Life.
The Author and Finisher of our faith was inspiring the masses long before he walked the earth in physical form. He was exposing the sophistries of the arch deceiver. He was highlighting certain gems of Truth within any evolving, though serviceable, religion that had existed prior to his sojourn. And, he was conditioning the soil upon which his abiding seeds of Truth would fall. By the time of the incarnation, the world was tee’d up to receive the new Gospel that proclaims “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you.” — Robert H. Kalk

(This post is an except from the Ascension University course titled Challenging Your World View)

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word choreographed an assembly of amino acids into an exquisite array of specific proteins. Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” In so doing God demonstrated a penchant for genomic writing, preceeded by an amazing series of prebiotic events, in a highly orchestrated presentation of evolutionary overcontrol.

More about God’s Handiwork!