Just Changing House of Faith

Over the past two weeks
I have changed house of faith
but still remained
in the same faith neighborhood
among fellow christians,
followers of the Son of Man,
The Word made flesh,
The resurrection and the life,
Jesus Our Lord and Savior.
When I wrote about this online
someone asked, "Why do you leave
the church of our forefathers?"
My reply to that is,
I did not leave the church
nor the faith of our forefathers,
I just changed my house of faith
but I still live
in the same neighborhood of faith.
During my last interview,
before my reception
to the Episcopal Church,
I was asked how do I feel
and how do I reflect on this
change of major significance
in my present life.
I said, for me, it is not
a feeling that I have left behind
something or I feel sad about it.
It is a feeling of seeing
a new widening horizon
in my personal journey of faith
as a christian believer.
I feel the joy of sharing
the gift of my life and faith
to this new family I belong now
and of gaining more insight
and more vision into what it means
to live according to the footsteps
of Jesus Christ in our time today.
The call to christian discipleship
is an ongoing lifetime call.
Life any life's journey or adventure
there are lots of changes and surprises,
some very simple but others remain a mystery
in all their complicated twists and turns
of events and decisions,
of possibilities and ventures of faith.
I rest at peace with this thought,
God our Father, in Jesus Christ His Son
and in the power of the Holy Spirit
is not yet through with the work
He has begun in my life
and I humbly bow my head
and say, "Thy will, not mine,
be done, O Lord, today and always!"

The Art of Listening

In the art of listening
Love is the best ear
of the heart.
In the midst and distraction
of the noise around us
and the noise within us
how can we both listen
with the ears of love
in our hearts?
Listening is an art
of hearing
not just the words
in the voice
but the silent voice
in the words!
We can only understand
when we take time to listen
without self induced
prejudice, pride or
preoccupation of other things.
Listening is an art
of being singlehearted,
mindly focused
and soully attuned
to the cry for care
and loving attention
from the one we listen to.
Marriage is the best field
and friendship too
for the practice
of the art of listening.
Here is a hypothetical question
written in a poster
authored by God,
"If you cannot understand
my silence,
how can you understand
my words?"
In talking to each other
we need spaces between our words
to allow the other to listen
the meaning behind each uttered word
and in the silence that follows still
the hearer can understand
the roots and causes
why such word is said.
A spoken word
is a multifaceted symbol
of a satellite of realities
in one's soul within
and one's life outside.
I can only master
the art of listening
when in my own life
I create spaces of silence
to listen and pray
and hear God's voice
"You are my beloved...
Don't be afraid...
I am with you always...
Today, you will be with me
in paradise!"