Scripture: Romans 1:28 (TNIV)
Furthermore, look just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, cialis so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.

Thought for the Day: I’ve been reading Schleiermacher again. Friedrich Schleiermacher was a German theologian, philosopher, scholar, chaplain, pastor and professor in the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries. He was a skeptic, and not at all a fan of the Christian Orthodoxy of the time.

Schleiermacher’s understanding of being human is dependent on reception and activity. On “reciprocity.” Without an other of some sort, we can neither receive nor give. This applies to other humans as well as to God.

For Schleiermacher, freedom means activity, and activity means an influence by an outside object on our receptivity. We are free because we are dependent on the activity of God (toward us) to keep us free. Consciousness, which is our entire existence, comes from God, so that God-consciousness and self-consciousness become one and the same.

We are receivers for God’s consciousness, and we also transmit to God’s consciousness. When we begin to become intentionally aware of this process, we are more able to lead lives of unconditional acceptance of all the “others” we meet. If we are all receivers, it means we are all affiliated in God. We are now able to lead lives of selfless reciprocity.

Prayer: Tune me in, Holy God, and help me receive a glimpse of your Supreme Consciousness, so my vision of reality might become broader, more inclusive, and more forgiving. Amen.