Scripture: Philippians 2:5-7
In your relationships with one another, view have the same attitude of mind Christ Jesus had:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.

Thought for the Day: It can be difficult to have conversations about religion. Our experiences with God are very personal. Many of us have grown up in traditions that have played a huge role in forming how we see ourselves, so we’re protective of those institutions, and resist challenges to their teachings. Too often though, this protective instinct manifests itself as intolerance. We humans, who have only the slimmest perception of reality, can’t presume what works for one of us spiritually is the only thing that works for all of us, end of story. There is no single path to enlightenment. In fact, for most of us, the path is as twisted and torturous as Jesus’ march to Cavalry.

I find it insulting when religion is discounted off hand; to discount the journey of another individual seems, to me, to be slapping God in the face. We’re all struggling to figure this existence out. Believing we somehow have a special dispensation from God is hubris of the worst kind (and a good recipe for bloodshed). Religion needs to be personal, for it is an intimate and personal God that is revealed throughout nature, and in all the great spiritual writings of history: from Torah to Testament, from Tao to Dhammapada, from Qur’an to Veda. Our experience with God must be personal, but our religion must not be so personal that it causes us to slight or dismiss the difficult journey every other person on the planet is undertaking.

Prayer: Give me gentle words to speak, and a humble demeanor, so my thoughts, words, and actions allow me to serve humankind through love. Make make me recognize your face, God I love, in the face of every other human I see today, that it might make me more accepting, more patient, and more loving. Amen.