A Clean Heart Is A Free Heart - Mother Teresa

A Clean Heart Is A Free Heart in the words of Mother Teresa

"A clean heart is a free heart. A free heart can love Christ with an undivided love in chastity, convinced that nothing and nobody will separate it from his love. Purity, chastity, and virginity created a special beauty in Mary that attracted God’s attention. He showed his great love for the world by giving Jesus to her.

There is a terrible hunger for love. We all experience that in our lives - the pain, the loneliness. We must have the courage to recognize it. The poor you may have right in your own family. 

Find them.

Love them. 

Before you speak, it is necessary for you to listen, for God speaks in the silence of the heart.  Give yourself fully to God. He will use you to accomplish great things on the condition that you believe much more in His love than in your own weakness.

Speak tenderly to them. Let there be kindness in your face, in your eyes, in your smile, in the warmth of your greeting. Always have a cheerful smile. Don't only give your care, but give your heart as well.

                        The more you have, the more you are occupied, the less you give. 

                   But the less you have the more free you are. Poverty for us is a freedom. 

                                                    It is not mortification, a penance. 

It is joyful freedom. There is no television here, no this, no that. But we are perfectly happy.  I pray that you will understand the words of Jesus, “Love one another as I have loved you.” Ask yourself “How has he loved me? Do I really love others in the same way?” Unless this love is among us, we can kill ourselves with work and it will only be work, not love. Work without love is slavery.

Little things are indeed little, but to be faithful in little things is a great thing.

A sacrifice to be real must cost, must hurt, must empty ourselves. The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service, the fruit of service is peace."

Much Love, 
Pastor Singleton

Is the Bible Your Love Language?

Every generation laments the absence of their era’s music, fondly recalling “when music was good”.  We believe our generation provided the best: music, sound and creativity. Moreover, we unequivocally pronounce our era and genre as both King and Queen of esteeming the most profound lyrics.  With a second for nostalgia I remember:

When Countless were the tears Sade helped me cry after a break up;                                 When Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell instilled within a quest for an insurmountable love;

When Luther saaaang hope.

Of course, I could cite many, many more. Yet, the one significant constant of my choice of music was/is: its ability to articulate my range of emotions and offer expression for those very low moments when I was numb, lost and beyond words. Music for me was instrumental in developing my understanding of love and relationships.

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Music has that unique and universal ability to produce utterances bellowing within; to soothe pangs; to decry and celebrate the sorrows and joys of relationships; to quiet our tumult; to reveal our psychosis; to define love, etc.

My favorite music helped me understand people, relationships and the importance of love. As shared, music was pivotal for my growth in interpersonal skills and relationships but I underestimated a resource of greater value.  The Holy Bible in its basest sense is a recount of love and relationships; in fact, if one seeks to know how to love and how to be loved, the Bible is the authority.

Music about love is good but can’t compare with God the author, 

inspiration and creator of Love!

John Wesley said of the Bible: “We know, ‘All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,’ and is therefore true and right concerning all things”. As we strive toward greater understanding of love, God, each other and developing healthy relationships, the Bible should be our primary reference and guide. Wesley also was quoted saying, “Let me be homo unius libri” (Let me be a man of one book), which meant Scripture was his first and primary source for understanding but not his only source.

As we know all healthy relationships are grounded in love; therefore, the knowledge of love should be our pursuit.  And real love is only discovered and learned through God; thus, the Bible is our key.  I John 4:16-17a says, “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who love, live in God and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect…”

What if everyone began all relationships with an understanding that love begins with how much God loves us 

and our every endeavor was to live for and love like God?

God created us for love and if we are to truly know God’s intention for love, let’s continue our journey by using the Bible as our primary source for understanding. Jesus says in John 14:21, “Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them”.

Our best hope to experience love is not remembrances of “when music was good” but in every day opportunities of learning the depths of God’s love for us.  As we read Scripture, we will discover even more than music, Scripture speaks to every circumstance of life.

The story of God and his people begins with and continues with God’s love for us.

If you think your generation's music captured expressions of love best, consider this bible passage written in 900 B.C. (and read the entire book later):

You have captured my heart, my treasure, my bride.

You hold it hostage with one glance of your eyes,

with a single jewel of your necklace.

Your love delights me, my treasure, my bride.

Your love is better than wine, 

your perfume more fragrant than spices.

Songs of Solomon 4:9-10

As we read and study Scripture, we discover God’s love for us and learn how we are to love God and our neighbor. The Bible is a love story that can transform our life, our relationships, our mind, body and soul. Through Scripture, we will find the ebbs and flows of relationships, we will witness the discord of deceit and the harmony of hope and everything between. Most of all, we will see the love of God at work teaching us and inviting us to do the same.

Questions to Ponder

1. Did you know that love begins with God?
2. How can we know God’s commandments unless we read and study the Bible?
3. Will you commit to making the Bible your primary source of learning and understanding all things?

Much Love,

Pastor Singleton

Over There, Over There, Over There!!

In a few days our oldest son turns six years old; while he still maintains toddler status, I readily admit he and his four year old brother are master teachers.  Sometimes I marvel at their wisdom which confounds their innocence and age.  Moments where their responses belie their infancy causes me to wonder "If they have been here before?" Through their awareness, insights and observations, my little fellas continue to inspire, challenge and encourage me. For instance, they responded with enthusiasm and joy as my wife and I taught them the importance and value of serving others during the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

In a Wal-Mart parking lot, they introduced themselves and assisted about forty people with their carts by saying, “Hi may I serve you today by helping you with your cart?” People (mature and young) were gracious and most extended them an opportunity to serve. My surprise sprung from those denying our innocent babies such a learning moment. Still, the master teachers were not deterred nor their spirit dampened.  Upon each acceptance or denial immediately their sights were set on the next opportunity, screaming "Over There, Over There, Over There" (at the top of their lungs) as they pointed to another customer pushing her/his cart toward their cars.

The spirit and heart of a child is inclined to serve and sensitivity

Are we adults so hardened, frustrated and disappointed that our bent toward loving and serving others has become severed? What could otherwise explain our self absorption; our refusal to share the love of Jesus; our disconnection from those known as the Least (the imprisoned, oppressed, poor, suffering, widows, etc.)?

Jesus invites us to have an Over There mentality. Jesus teaches the adults (us) to emulate him, the Master Teacher, by pointing to the children as the model of His love and embodiment of His Kingdom. Not only are we to serve the Least but we are to have an enthusiasm and joy as we are serving.  

The number of birthdays we experience or how long we have been members of a church is not the barometer for our commitment to Jesus.

We discover the degree of our commitment in our faithfulness to Jesus. We realize the measure of our commitment every time we declare Over There to our next opportunity to share and demonstrate Love as Christ taught us.

Jesus challenges, chastises and corrects his disciples (us) as they attempted to legitimize spiritually wayward adult tendencies; as they sought to preempt the master teachers from experiencing the Master’s wisdom and His expectation of us all. In Mark 10:13 – 16, through His rebuke Jesus calls us to serve Him and to scream Over There at every opportunity:

¹³ ”People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. ¹⁴ But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. ¹⁵ Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” ¹⁶And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.”

1. Perhaps, we need to revisit and embrace our innocence?
2. Perhaps, we are succumbing to being adults and have lost our sense of child-like wonderment to serving and Loving?
3. Perhaps, we need to rededicate ourselves to Over There?
4. Perhaps, our hearts and ears need to hear the stern rebuke of Jesus? 
5. Perhaps, we need to experience our lives in the embrace of Jesus arms?
6. Perhaps, we are to live in the reassurance that His desire is to bless those that are childlike, serving others and continually looking Over There for more opportunities.   

Much Love,
Pastor Singleton

Dreams (Visions) Always Have A Casting Call

Have you ever dreamt the unimaginable only to be awakened by its possibility pulsating within?  Dreams can leave us confounded – suspended between our present reality and a starry-eyed fixation on what could be. Our inner thoughts or divine call can either get lost in an unsearchable cosmos or become a tangible actuality. Whether or not our dreams become is not based on the dreams intensity, yea all dreams have their genesis within but are not discernible until shared.

Hence, Dreams (Visions) Always Have A Casting Call

In January, we celebrate the world renowned Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday.  Rev. King etched the words I have a dream in the minds and hearts of people around the globe.  He had an unshakeable pulsating within, a dream of a world where every living person received equal and fair treatment. King understood the nobility of his dream, yet even more so recognized, if kept to himself, his “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” would remain a fiction without hope. Subsequently, this speech emerged as one of the most prolific casting calls in United States history. People from all walks of life, known and unknown have made and are making Dr. King’s dream become.  

What dreams (visions) have you kept to yourself?

With a casting call (sharing) your dream (vision) can become.

In Luke 4:18–19, Jesus provides the greatest example in world history of a vision (dream) saying:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”

Jesus courageously spoke this vision aloud. This dream, a nightmare to most of his original audience, pronounces hope to the downtrodden and judgment to the oligarchs. Jesus announces the dream in the synagogue then conducts the casting call on the beach, in towns and in the mountains, simply saying, “Come follow me and I will show you how to fish for people” Mark 1:16 and “Follow me and be my disciple” Luke 5:27 and Mark 3:13. Jesus’ first casting call netted twelve disciples but today his dream continues gaining followers and producing disciples. Jesus’ dream born above, seeps into the spirit of those on earth summoning us to “Come follow me”.  Seemingly meager, Jesus’ initial twelve has ballooned to billions, according to www.pewforum.org, “there are 2.18 billion Christians of all ages around the world, representing nearly a third of the estimated 2010 global population of 6.9 billion”.

Will you dare to speak aloud your dream?

Without a casting call, our dreams (visions) are deferred withering like raisins in the sun, festering like sores. Without partners living out the dream, our dreams stagnate sagging like a heavy load destined to implode.

Casting calls are the lifeline through which our dreams become.

Questions to ponder

1. Have you answered yes to Jesus’ casting call of “Come follow me and I will show you how to fish for people”?
2. Naming your dream and having a casting call could be your next step toward obedience to God.
3. What dreams (visions) are pulsating within you?
4. Think about the 10’s, 100’s, 1000’s, and more that await your casting call.
5. Your dreams (visions) might be the answer to someone's prayer

Much Love,

Pastor Singleton

I Am Love - I am loved!

You, my sister, you, my brother are loved!  Entering this New Year may the words, I am loved, resonate within your every thought. Along life’s journey, it seems both our experiences and some people have conspired to steal our ability to accept love. Instead of love being our companion, its absence dries our wells leaving us lost and longing for love’s reemergence.

Adversary is an unfamiliar and unwanted role for True Love;

hence, True Love is a relentless missile and you are its target.

This year accept the invitation to abandon any conversations insisting that you lack worth. In this moment embrace the truth, you are a person with immense value. Perchance, these three words have escaped your hearing, from my heart I say, I love you!  More importantly, with assurance that Jesus loves you, you can confidently affirm,   I am loved. Repeat with me, I am loved!

The coldest winter hibernates within the hollowness of the human condition.  

Yet, the love of the Savior slivers through the cracks and shortens our chills; unraveling the frigid blankets of our sin, addiction, anger, bitterness, confusion, depression and feelings of rejection. . .warming us with rays of His Light. Covered in forgiveness, filled with hope we can discard our wintry garments with anticipation of being clothed in the freeing power found in His spring of love.

We can refuse the love of Jesus, but we can’t deny the summer intensity with which God pursues us! Who alone loves us, accepts us, forgives and welcomes us after and during our every fall? Ultimate love, the love of and from Christ, is undeterred by our sins, our experiences, our defeats or our victories.   True Love stems only from the One inhabiting heaven and earth. . .the One with power over body and soul. Love triumphant consistently stoops to distant and destitute places lifting the lost to discover –       

I Am Love enabling each of us to say I am loved.

In the opening of the Parables of the Lost, we witness Love in action and have a glimpse of the willingness and desire of Jesus to make known His love for us.  In Luke 15:1 – 2, the relentless missile overlooks the complicity of our sin and the critics of our sin meeting us in our storms; feasting and fellowshipping with us, communicating I Am Love:

“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus.

But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered,

“This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.””

Release yourself from the weariness accompanying any absence of love, knowing that Jesus welcomes you hoping to fill you with His love.  True Love is the missile, I Am is the name and your heart is the bulls-eye! Let today begin the season that you believe I am loved. Repeat with me, I am loved!

Every New Beginning Or New Achievement is Born in Death!

Entering a new year often stirs our ambitions and inflates our dreams and we write and utter amazing goals both of great dimension and small diameter. The New Year seems magical and without limitations; thus, we make daring resolutions and proclaim courageous I am gonna(s) . All the while our inner selves know we have traveled this road before with unimpressive results.

Hence, the reality of our resolutions is part hope, part doubt and part cynicism.

Every year many of our resolutions become mere Disney notions filled with low (to no) expectations that we will follow through this year.  I could share statistics of unfulfilled resolutions but I invite your reflection of – the many people you know (even consider yourself) from last year that haven’t:  begun exercising, lost weight, looked for a new job, saved any money, started a new career/business, quit smoking, begun volunteering, removed themselves from toxic relationships, etc., etc.? So, why am I making such venomous claims so early in our desire to believe we will _____?  Because I know, we (me included) can reverse our dismal outcomes.

Speaking of possibilities and the New Year, Howard Thurman says: “The individual stands in the midst of a stream of vitality, awareness, and fluidity, and is able, by an act in the present moment, to do for him (her) or for the context in which he (she) is operating, something that nothing else in the world can do”.

Yet, I must inject a sobering truth serum – reversal of our dismal resolution outcomes and our ability to take action toward “something that nothing (no one) else in the world can do” begins with our realization of:

Every new beginning or new achievement is born in death!

As we enter this New Year, we need not wear the bridle of low expectation. In fact, we must remain daring and courageous! But if our resolutions, dreams and goals are to become – embracing the requirement of our death (and burial) is imperative. Furthermore, if we are to nurture and birth “something that nothing else in the world can do”, forging to create fertile places (such as our spirit, mind, actions, sphere of influences, etc.) is an absolute necessity. I know we have this potential because the Ultimate Creator promised anyone who believes in me will do even greater works than I.

Why is death the beginning? A seeds greatest hope to become - is the soil where it is planted. We make resolutions, dream dreams, write goals then plant them in toxic soil. For example, when one resolves to become debt free, and precedes to max out a credit card then opens a different credit account because they did not have any money is an example of the need for death.

The challenges we face are not our resolutions but our resolve.

Making the resolution of financial freedom is noble but the first challenge is pronouncing death on the impulse for immediate satisfaction and an inclination to fulfill wants before meeting needs. Without a stalwart resolve, the seed of being debt free is suffocated and stifled by the old habit of financial recklessness.  If our dreams and resolutions are to crystallize, intense evaluation of: our habits, choices, the people we permit to influence us, our spiritual, emotional and physical wellness, etc. is urgent. Every new beginning or new achievement is born in death.

Resolutions, dreams and goals are seeds pregnant with possibilities requiring a death before they are realized. Jesus’ own death and life is the consummate example of the new life and the new beginnings that can be wrought from death. In the below scriptures, Jesus bears witness to the origin of new achievements and the consequences for overlooking them:

 “Besides, who would patch old clothing with new cloth? For the new patch would shrink

and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before”. Matthew 9:16

 “I tell you the truth unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone.  But its death will produce many new kernels – a plentiful harvest of new lives”. John 12:24

^“For those who want to save their life will lose it, and

those who lose their life for my sake will save it”. Luke 9:24

As we enter this New Year, let us focus on death not in a morbid sense; rather, as a precondition to fulfill our every resolution, dream, goal and promise. Let us commence to discovering, evaluating and pronouncing death on anything and anyone that is a hindrance to our new beginnings and achievements. I know we can fulfill our resolutions, dreams and goals but we must first pay the price.

Will your resolutions remain Disney notions or

become “something that nothing else in the world can do”?

Tragedy - Only Love!!

Luke 10:25-37 – You may have read or heard the story of the Good Samaritan over and over before but in reading this after a stream of tragedies – what struck me is that Jesus never focused on the actions of the robber. I want us to think for a moment on Only Love!

In the aftermath of tragedies many of us ask the question, “where is God?” Especially, in the midst of the deaths of innocent children, we ask, why do bad things happen? Death baffles us and senseless deaths such as the murder of these children enrages us; empties us; leaving us void, numb, and in need of any sensible conclusions. But amid our pain nothing comforts us nor does logic or rationale, offer any soothing reasons for barbaric actions.

In truth, we all are struggling to find God in the midst of the bloodshed, the tears, the bewilderment, and the funeral processions of the victims in Newtown, CT and the millions of nameless victims of acts of violence.  I do not have a complete answer because we will never completely know until that time when we stand face to face before God.  On that day will come the fulfillment of the psalmist refrain “We’ll understand it better, by and by”. Only when standing before our mighty and holy God will we know completely. 

In the meantime, we must proclaim and believe that in the mystery of death, there is the towering, intimate, compassionate presence of God.  God must not be deemed as a tyrant and orchestrator of such calamities, but God is to be known as our only source of hope, our only means through and out of these times of peril.

The Holy Scriptures remind us that we all live in a very broken world.  In Romans chapter 8, the Apostle Paul affirms this saying: “all of creation is waiting with eager longing…for the creation was subjected to futility; but one day the creation will be set free from its bondage to decay…but for now the whole creation is groaning in labor pains, groaning inwardly while it awaits for adoption the redemption of our bodies.” Thus we must wait in hope of reconciliation. 

There is nowhere in the world where the brokenness of creation is not witnessed; and pointing out the brokenness of the world around us may not help to ease the pain which surrounds these tragedies. But naming these acts of violence in Newtown, CT, the Birmingham courtroom, Homewood, AL, or those of professional football players and the innumerable other homicides and suicides happening everyday may help to remind us that we are not alone.  We can bear witness that illnesses, accidents, vicious events, hunger and poverty wreak havoc on humanity; claiming human lives prematurely, unjustly and senselessly aren't arbitrary but are affecting our neighbors.

Yet, merely knowing that such tragedy abounds does not lessen our own pain and grief, what is important for us to understand in the midst of this broken world, while each of us groans in pain and despair, God is with us.  God’s work of redemption is not yet complete.  

The hope that you and I are to believe in and embrace is that 

one day God will overcome all of the world’s brokenness. 

As the writer of Revelation proclaims to us in Revelation 21: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…and in that time there will be no more mourning, no more crying, no more pain...God will wipe away every tear….and death will be no more”. 

You and I are called to try to live into that hope…even in the midst of the death of those 20 children under the age of 8.

We’re not alone. The families that lost these precious children, those courageous adults, even those left to mourn the loss of the shooter, none of them – none of us are alone. God promises never to leave us. The reality is that God too is devastated. God’s hope for creation was that we would love God with all heart, mind, soul and strength, and that we would love one another. We must believe that our pain is shared by God.  God knows what it is like to lose someone to a tragic death.  In our own tears, may we remember and know that Jesus also weeps. So, we don’t cry alone, the great God of the universe weeps with us.

The mystery of and goal of faith is to redeem our brokenness and encourage us to pursue authentic love. We will continue to encounter our own Jericho Road experiences and know of many more senseless tragedies.  But we must find comfort that God, the Ultimate Good Samaritan, comes alongside us whether we are in places filled with danger or places of comfort deemed safe, God arrives in our midst to both suffer with us and to facilitate our recovery. It is true God shares our pain and sorrow because God is love. 

God is with us and remains with us sharing our sorrow 

and offering us comfort and hope for a new day.

Such tragedies remind us of the uncertainty of life, we know not the time of our final breath; thus, we must learn that we can’t take life for granted.  No one knows how long she or he will live, whether our lot is 7 years or 70 years. Today, if we purpose to grow in loving God and our neighbor as God commanded; perhaps, we will experience some solace from the deaths of these innocent children and the heroic and courageous adults. Furthermore, as we like the Good Samaritan lend ourselves to relieve the suffering of our neighbors we are alerted to remember that all life is precious and that family, friends and even strangers are irreplaceable.      

We must learn to love, respect and appreciate one another while we are living.  In these moments, we are recipients of the cruel reminder that life can be short but we must seize today by embracing the fullness of the possibilities which God continues to place before us.

Our entry point to recovery from the devastation of senseless tragedies is through God’s gracious love consuming us, empowering us, directing us and leading us to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and loving our neighbor.

My Friends, we must come together. Let us not allow death-tragedy to win, but let us allow something good to come forth from the despair we feel. In short let us let us live each day guided by love, because only love can guide us through the valley of the shadow of death, only love will comfort us, only love will empower us, only love will restore our hope,                                                                                                                                                                                            only love. . .