Am I a C.I.A. Agent?

Today I picked up "The 5 Things We Cannot Change" by David Richo from my bookshelf as I wanted to refresh my memory on his thoughts on the F.A.C.E. of ego. I came across a couple of other great thoughts worth considering. Here's one for today:

"I am now more careful.... with everyone not to become the
CIA - Critic, Interpreter, and Advisor. We can make it a spirtual practice
- not to criticize others' behavior,
- not to interpret what they do according to our worldview, and
- not to advise unless we are invited to do so.
Eliminating these three behaviors from our repertory, especially with partners and family members, makes our communication much more loving and respectful." p. 11

This will be my spiritual practice for this week (and perhaps for the rest of my life, but for right now I'm just starting with this week). As I enter into conversations I will keep these questions in mind. Am I criticizing them? Interpreting their actions against my own worldview? Or advising them when they haven't asked for any? Or course I do all three of those things every single day, but this week I am going to focus on this, with God's help....I'll let ya know how it goes :)

Take This Bread

Last year I read "Take this Bread" by Sara Miles and thought it was more than wonderful. Recently I started it again for a small group reading selection and am finding it to be even more earth- shattering than the first time.

This is the story of a woman, raised as an atheist, who wandered into an Episcopal church one day, received communion and "discovered a religion rooted in the most ordinary yet subversive practice: a dinner table where everyone is welcome, where the despised and outcasts are honored." p. xii

This is the story of one woman who answered a call to feed people - especially those at the margins of our society, by starting more than a dozen food pantries in the poorest parts of San Francisco. There is a paragraph from page 95 that describes the quotations found on the altar at St. Gregory's. "The first, in Greek, from the gospel of Luke, recorded an insult to Jesus: 'This guy welcomes sinners and eats with them.' On the other side of the altar were the words of the seventh-century mystic Isaac of Nineveh: 'Did not our Lord share his table with tax collectors and harlots? So do not distinguish between worthy and unworthy. All must be equal for you to love and serve.' "

Oh to be this open, Lord! Oh to be this loving, Lord!

May the Spirit of the Living God lead us into new ways

of embracing our neighbors and all who we meet this day. Amen