PASSION AND PRAISE: PALM SUNDAY REFLECTION

PASSION AND PRAISE

Passion is derived from the word that means “suffer.” As we reflect upon the significance of Palm Sunday during the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, we do so with excitement, praise, anticipation, and renewed hope. While our hearts and minds are catapulted into spheres of joy, praise, and pregnant expectation, they must also be tempered by imminence of the clandestine presence of suffering that resides within the corridors and shadows of praise, not for the purpose of suppressing our joy, but to remind us that where there is no cross, there is no crown.

While the masses gathered to welcome Jesus, many had no inherent idea what he was really about. Many had hoped that he was the Messiah, which in their minds meant a political leader, who would bring salvation from political and societal oppression and debauchery, and overthrow the Roman aristocracy. After all, Jesus had raised the dead and performed many miracles recorded and not recorded, thus, the populous assumed that Jesus would restore the kingdom of David and free them from Roman rule.

While there was veracity in the hopes, expectations, and dreams of the masses, many had misunderstood, fallen short of comprehending, and recklessly overlooked that the necessity of the fulfillment of The Passion of Jesus Christ of which Psalm Sunday was the precursor; i.e., suffering would still unfold before authentic praise would be perfected and fulfilled. For we know that “God moves in mysterious ways his wonders to perform” and the word of God reminds us “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord, For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9.

In essence, the plan of God was operative on a higher plane not yet understood by the hearts of men and women. Regarding the manifestation of perfected praise, perfected praise is a profoundly deeply-rooted honor and reverence of thanksgiving that Believers lift up to God, who has saved and blessed them by his grace through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Perfected praise is also birthed by purification through the fire of trials where joy and peace are the Believers’ companion where hopelessness and despair should otherwise reside.  

Thus, while Believers, Witness Bearers of The Faith, must approach Palm Sunday with joy and shouting “Hosanna,” which means “save now,” we must also do so with a sober reverence to God because within “The Cup” that overflowed with praises bestowed upon Jesus, were bitter dregs of suffering of which Jesus was aware. In essence, while the focus of the masses was on the material world, the focus of Jesus was on a mission of a higher call and vastly more enormous than one place and one time, for it was a mission that would transform all that was, all that is, and all that shall be! Glory to God in The Highest!!! God is the Alpha and the Omega and within the Passion of Jesus, “the Beginning and the End” were reconciling themselves that the excellency of Christ would be made manifest!

Importantly and ironically, the masses who shouted Hosanna during the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, were comprised of the same masses who displayed the fickleness of the human heart just a few days later in their angry and insulting vulgarities and chants requests to Pilate to “Crucify Him!” This dynamic causes the Believer to keep ever present the question that Jesus proposed when he stated, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Mark 8:36. Place not your hope and faith in accolades of men and women, but God Almighty Beloved of God! An important point to mention here to us as believers is that we must resist the temptation to place God in a box as well! The Lord is doing a new thing!!! Just as Jesus was not finished with the plan of God during his triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, God is not finished with you yet nor his plans for your life Beloved of God! Keep the Faith and continue to press forward to the mark of the high calling in Jesus Christ!

While our eyes are fixed on Easter morning and the joyous outpouring of grace and gratitude that was is manifested through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, let us not forget the rough and rocky precipice that Jesus took and that we must take to get there. Christian Lyric Writer, Jennie E. Hussey, echoed these sentiments in a hymn that she penned in 1921, “Lead Me To Calvary.”

Lead Me To Calvary

King of my life, I crown Thee now,         Thine shall the glory be;         Lest I forget Thy thorn-crowned brow,         Lead me to Calvary. Refrain: Lest I forget Gethsemane, Lest I forget Thine agony; Lest I forget Thy love for me, Lead me to Calvary. Show me the tomb where Thou wast laid, Tenderly mourned and wept; Angels in robes of light arrayed Guarded Thee whilst Thou slept. Let me like Mary, through the gloom, Come with a gift to Thee; Show to me now the empty tomb, Lead me to Calvary. May I be willing, Lord, to bear Daily my cross for Thee; Even Thy cup of grief to share, Thou hast borne all for me.

Be Blessed

Reverend K. Mason

(c) 2017
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K.Mason (c) 2017

You Don't Know What The Lord Told Me

YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THE LORD TOLD ME!

GENESIS 7:1 KJV

And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.

ISAIAH 55: 11 KJV

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.


The year 2015 is midway underway and has ushered in our hopes, aspirations, and dreams like the flutter of birds wings in early Spring upon the breath of GOD! Many of GOD'S people have renewed their commitment and covenant to the LORD in anticipation of a deeper experience with THE HOLY and THE DIVINE. While our sense of renewal provokes the reignition of our hopes as we surge forth into a year of the unknown, a year filled with anticipation of new beginnings, and a year filled with hope for answered prayers for deliverance, the prevelance of the realities of struggles, injustices, and the magnitude of the paradoxes we face as people of Faith tend to call them into question!

Importantly, commensurate with our desire for renewal, peace, and joy, the world, the nation, and our communities have been severely impacted by suffering, despair, brokenness, corruption, distrust, inequities, bigotry, woundedness, malignant narcissism, and catastrophe. As many of us allow ourselves to be present to this reality, we can still hear the echoes of winter winds sing of the imminence of difficult times and spiritual danger in the air! Already in the year 2015, we have witnessed pandemic suffering, moral decay, community unrest, pandemic natural catastrophes, wars, political corruption and mudslinging as well as the physical, economic, spiritual, emotional, and psychological slaughter and oppression of many innocent people in the infancy of their hopes and dreams! It is only May and so many persons' lives have been radically altered as a consequence of no volition of their own implementation, but far too often by the hands of those who abuse and inappropriately dislodge power. Have mercy upon us LORD, we pray!

As the events unfold in the Narrative of Genesis 7:1, The LORD rendered guidance to Noah who had witnessed the moral decay and the psychospiritual erosion of GOD'S people. Circumstances of despair and the proliferation of human pathos had become so pandemic in the land that it would not be long before GOD'S people would eat their food in anxiety, drink their water in despair, and recline upon their beds of affliction, for their land would be stripped of everything in it because of the presence of violence, a lack of love, a lack of tolerance, and the malignant narcissism of many persons who resided in the land. The inhabited towns were destined to become an utter wasteland like that of the "Slough of Despond" in John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress. Suffering was on the agenda. Only then would humanity come to reckon with the sovereignty of the LORD. Consequently, Noah's instructions and actions in the construction of an ark functioned as a metaphor of GOD'S invitation to grace and love to all of humanity.

An amplified view of the text enables us to learn that the embrace of "TRUTH" tempered by both "LOVE" and "WISDOM" is available to all who are amenable to hear. What might we do if we had to dislodge our baggage of fear, uncertainty, and pseudo-control? Who would we become? Where would we go? How would we face ourselves, not only in our mourning, but in the morning as well as throughout the day many of GOD'S people muse? Importantly, we do not know quite where to begin, much less fathom or integrate the coexistence of "LOVE" and "TRUTH" of this caliber as we are invited to embrace a deeper awareness that no one has ever loved us, protected us, nor cradled us like GOD! Significantly, while unquenchable anticipation and unrestrained hope have now come to cosmically divine fruition, "LOVE" has come to each of us as we intimately encounter the presence of "The Holy" in the air.
Consequently, while the marriage and the manifestation of prophetic fulfillment and the eschatological incarnation has embodied itself in the logos, "reason" evades our consciousness as the boundary of "LOVE" knows no depth, no height, no breath, nor scope for which "anything that was," "anything that is," and "anything that shall be" can elude its presence!

An amplified look at the Flood Narrative provides us with a compelling glimpse of the intertwined nature of the coexistence joy and solemnity as the Wise Old Man, Noah, and, significantly, his family became the catalyst for GOD'S love covenant with humanity and salvific hope for a brand new day! As Christians, we become both witnesses and participants to birth, life, death and resurrection if we believe! As Christians, we become witnesses to destruction and construction. As Christians, we become witnesses to annihilation and preservation.As Christians, we become witnesses to a spiritual psychology that functions as the buttress for both the community and the world by and large.

Moreover, on some level, we become observers and co-members of the human condition who struggle with the compelling invitation to radical self-transformation, deep introspection required both by compassion and the petition for a deeper altruistic expression of love for such a momentous event as the onslaught of a flood. The Flood Narrative offers the community of faith an anchor in stormy times which suggests that subsequent to the proclamation of the logos, a spirit of change was imminent for humanity as life was about to radically change in the manner in which it was once experienced! While the chosen, Wise Old Man, Noah, was given the news of GOD'S divine favor, he was not initially fully cognizant of the profundity and implication of being chosen and having favor with The Lord; neither was humanity then, nor in subsequent light years! In essence, life happens! Floods do also! However, rainbows follow, if one dares to look!

Nevertheless, as PEOPLE of GOD, we must reckon with the reality of floods in our lives! Floods in and of themselves may cause one's perspective to change or might represent a myriad of challenges and invitations for GOD'S PEOPLE: For some, Floods might represent a lineage of strong family ties and/or tradition that prohibits genuine growth and spiritual autonomy; for others, Floods might represent a desire to maintain the status quo, a rote existence, or one's acceptance into the circle of the elite; still for others, Floods might represent the desire to remain connected to a relationship that is unhealthy and unproductive, a friendship that is barren, but perfunctory, a self-concept that perpetuates the illusion of self-importance as it has become confused about the owner of such unclaimed and displaced baggage; even still for others, Floods might represent one's investment in rejection, depression, loneliness, failure, shame, co-dependence, anger, grief, guilt, self-entitlement, and placing others on probation to vindicate and/or ameliorate one's own woundedness. FLOODS! Floods, they are powerful and quite real! When we are not spiritually anchored, floods have the capacity to wash away all that we deem valuable. If the truth were told, Floods have the capacity to sweep us away with them if we are not anchored to the love of GOD!

Despite the occurrence of floods, which we know from the Holy Text as well as the Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina in contemporary times, GOD'S people must attune their ears to hear HIS voice as it is GOD whose voice can still winds and calm storms! Noah offers us hope and petitions us to remember what GOD has told us as The Believing Community who holds up The Blood-stained Banner! Noah reminds you to remember what The Lord has told you in the fulfillment of His Divine Call for your life!  The aforementioned statement is critically significant, because circumstances have the propensity to cause even the most grounded Christian to call into question the fruition of GOD'S word amidst the onslaught of life's floods. Flood-impact is undoubtedly daunting and devastating to say the least. The onslaught of floods appear virtually inescapable by any human being, yet have the potential for healing and recovery with care, insight, attention, safety, deep love, abiding empathy, and the presence of The Holy Spirit. The opportunity to be a servant of the LORD has afforded me myriad opportunities to visit the sacred ground of men, women, and children who are hurt; deeply hurt; some even beyond there own recognition. Consequently, false recovery from flood-impact may disguise itself as bravado or overconfidence. Flood-impact may produce a malignant distrust of those who are benevolent. Flood-impact may cause many persons to shut themselves off from genuine love. Flood-impact may cause others to be on the fast track to achieve euphoric frenzy. Flood-impact may cause still others to neglect the painful truth of acknowledging and doing something about their own woundedness. Flood-impact may cause even others to be defended and consequently push away those persons/things that they desire the greatest level of intimacy.

Despite the presence of discouragement, despite the lack of support, despite the reoccurrence of exclusions, despite the number of shut doors, despite the limitations, despite the presence of fears, despite the forces of darkness, and despite the infractions counted by enemies, Noah kept building and so must you as child of he who specializes in the construction of lifeboats and whose name is GOD!

Consequently, Noah's narrative offers each of us a reminder to hold fast; to cling to the unshakable promises of GOD! You might be wondering if you have heard correctly when circumstances or the opinions of others have caused you to stop in your tracks or even call yourself into question. The response to this type of thinking is to reply: "You don't know what the LORD told me!" When requested to elaborate about that which you have stated, cling to the unshakeable and everlasting promises of the LORD. When God commands you to move, you must move! When God commands you to be still, you must remain still! When your adversaries have stacked the odds against you, respond by telling them, "You don't know what the Lord has told me!"

THE LORD HAS TOLD YOU:

To remain in his word that you cannot fail

To remember that He is a GOD much stronger then Baal

To remember by HIS stripes you are healed

To remember in a sepulcher they tried to seal

To remember that He knew you before you were formed in your mother's womb

To remember in HIS divine kingdom that there is plenty good room

To remember that the land you will possess

To remember that in HIM that there is joy and rest

To remember that you are blessed and not cursed

To remember that He has given you power that will be dispersed

To remember that you have power over your enemies

To remember by His grace He paid the penalties

To remember that HE will supply your every need

To remember that we are the inherited from Abraham's seed

To remember He is a GOD who cannot lie

To remember that He is the JEHOVAH-JIREH, JEHOVAH-NISSU, THE GREAT JEHOVAH EL SHADDAI

(c) K. Mason 2006

As we approach the manifestation of the promises of GOD, let us do so with a greater degree of reverence and intimacy to GOD as we are compelled by our potential under the light of the brilliance of the CHRIST, convicted by "TRUTH" and transformed by "LOVE" to which we have tenaciously cleaved, and enraptured in the presence of GOD'S healing love!

ISAIAH 55: 11

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

K. Mason
(c) 2015

For your convenience, all of the links to Plethora Ministries sites are listed below. All you are required to do is "click" and be blessed! Please pass this on family members, friends, co-workers, and other travelers on their journey to spiritual integration and wholeness.


Blessings
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K.Mason

(c) 2005

HAPPY PURIM

HAPPY PURIM

Esther Denouncing Haman, by Ernest Normand

"These days of Purim should never cease to be celebrated by the Jews, nor should the memory of them die out among their descendants."  (Esther 9:28)

Today is the joyous holiday Purim (Feast of Lots)!

 

It is one of the most fun-filled and action-packed days on the Jewish calendar when people dress in costumes, often based on characters from the Book of Esther

Enjoying festive meals, exchanging mishloach manot (Purim gift baskets) and giving matanot l’evyonim (gifts to the poor) are essential elements of the day.

It is a Biblical tradition to send Purim baskets to family, friends, and  neighbors, as well as give gifts to the poor.

In synagogues all around the world, the entire scroll is publicly read at least twice—once last night and once during the day today. The heroine of the story is Esther, the Jewish girl who became queen of Persia some 2,400 years ago.   

                       

The antagonist of the Biblical narrative, Haman, had plotted the destruction of the Jewish People. He had no idea nor spiritual insight; however, that the king's beloved queen was actually a Jewish woman, for her identity was hidden from him, but not from the Lord.

When Esther's adopted father, Mordecai ,discovers Haman's plot, he encourages Esther to go to the king to plead for the lives of her people, saying:

"If you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for all of God's Beloved will arise from another place...  who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?"  (Esther 4:14)

Realizing that she may be killed for entering the king's inner chamber without being summoned and entrusting her faith and fate to God, Esther enters anyway after three days of fasting and prayer. So, too, must we fast and pray to hear from God. Consequently, Esther's trust in God courageously intervenes to save her people from certain annihilation.

To paraphrase the words of Mordecai, "YOU were called by the Lord for such a time as this!" Remain Encouraged Always



Be Blessed

K. Mason

(c) 2015
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K.Mason (c) 2015

Spring Blessings To The Beloved

A Reflection Written in Honor of Each of You:  

Spring Blessings To The Beloved

 

May you be graced and refreshed by the SPIRIT of rejuvenation,

Overflow with unquenchable bliss,

Bask in the awe of lovely things to yet come,

Be showered by the freshness of morning rain,

Marvel in the splendorous hues of Nature’s bounty; her cloak of flowers and trees,

Be a beneficiary of prosperity as vast as the blue sky,

Be enraptured by the  inspiration that all Winters become Spring,

Be revitalized by the fragrance of fresh cut flowers,

And

Be blessed by the glad tidings during this season of Spring and the days to come!

 

Blessings & Namaste

Kevin Mason

Be Blessed,

K. Mason

(c) 2009
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K.Mason (c) 2009

PRAYER FOR WISDOM

Wisdom is the astute application of knowledge. It embodies a profound comprehension and awareness of people, human behavior, circumstances, nature, the universe, and the presence of GOD, coalescing into the ability to appropriately and compassionately execute discernment, decisions, and actions all in keeping with this understanding. When King Solomon was the successor of the United Kingdom of Judah and Israel, he neither asked GOD for power, wealth, status, longevity, nor self-adulation. Instead, King Solomon asked GOD to help him govern his kingdom well and wisely. GOD was pleased with Solomon’s request because it was a humble, an earnest, and a selfless request. God honored Solomon’s requests and also granted him two things which most people desire: longevity and riches.

PRAYER FOR TODAY: Gracious LORD, we come before thy presence in a posture of gratitude and a heart of thanksgiving to express our deep and sincere reverence for the profound grace that you have bestowed upon us as your people; the sheep of your pasture and partakers of thy gracious bounty. We pray Dear LORD, that you would remind us of how special we are to you and that neither part of our hearts, our minds, nor our bodies are unknown to thee. Grant us the wisdom to trust in you and the movement of thy Holy Spirit and render us with the faith the size of a mustard seed. Teach us to petition thee for wisdom, temperance, patience, and love in place of our immodest desires and the temptations of self-indulgence, personal agenda, self-promotion, or supremacy over others. We ask this prayer in thy precious name. Amen. 

Be Blessed,

K. Mason

(c) 2013
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K.Mason (c) 2013

STAND STILL

Stand Still

We are living in some of the most preeminent times, yet some of the most challenging times. It appears on some level that genuine compassion for others and the spiritual imperative that we are our brothers and sisters keepers are merely platitudes and that the spiritual imperative, that subsequent to our love for GOD, that we should love our neighbor as thyself is merely an exercise in rhetoric are all too often swallowed up by malignant narcissism, obsessive self-indulgence, and the unrestrained dislodge of power. It seems that our spiritual compass has gone awry and that the land is desolate and its people starving though gorging themselves on all types of substitutes to feed their hungry souls, yet never appeasing their gluttony.  Evil appears to blatantly flourish in the face hope and at the expense of good, while the acceptance of brokenness and injustice are elements that daily occur and has caused far too many persons to abdicate their faith for reason and to believe that this is as good as it gets.  Beloved, be not dismayed as God is still sovereign. It is during such times that we must continue to pray and act with spiritual temperance, wisdom, and love.

Prayer: Gracious LORD, we come before thy presence and ask that you will encourage our hearts, while reminding us that the race is not given to the swift, but to he/she who endures. LORD, help us to remember that sometimes, all that you require that we do is to trust you and stand still in thy holy presence and in your presence take solace under the shelter of your divine wings of refuge. Hear our prayer LORD we pray. Amen.

  

Be Blessed,

K. Mason

(c) 2013
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K.Mason (c) 2013

Strength and Weakness

On this day dear LORD caution us to never cease praying and to expect the miraculous in the ordinary. Teach us daily and by the moment to accept thy will and grant us the wisdom, faith, and the serenity to discern self-will from thy will. Teach us to humbly embrace the weakness of our strength and the strength of our weakness. This is our prayer today as we render thee thanks in Jesus’ name we pray.  Hear us dear LORD we pray. Amen    

Be Blessed,

K. Mason

(c) 2013
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K.Mason (c) 2013

A Prayer For Those Who Have Loss A Loved One

A Reflection For You

"While the dust of that which you have loss has only started to settle,

the profundity of the absence of your beloved is still very profound, palpable, present.

An emptiness and a void seems to envelop you, while the absence of your beloved is dramatically heighten and felt as holidays and anniversaries approach and fold one into the other as you long for his/her presence. 

Though salty tears flood the windowpanes of your eyelids, invite and allow them to flow steady and run deeply like the Nile River,
For in their flowing they tell their own stories while cleansing one's soul, leaving their salty trail down your cheek.

As you reflect upon memories of happy times that caused your heart to soar and your mouth to burst with uncontrollable laughter, bask in the warmth of them as if being warmed by the sun at the height of the noonday. May you be nourished, strengthened, comforted, healed, and renewed by them.

When the sweet fragrance of spring fills your nostrils, allow this fragrance divine to wrap and intoxicate you causing you to drift away transcending both time and space with the knowledge that though a flower dies, the memory of its fragrance is eternal.

As a melody of the joyous sound of the music of air and the singing of birds caress the shell of your ear, allow it to touch, enrapture, and comfort your heart, dance upon your windowpane of your soul, and inspire you to love more deeply, more widely, and more freely because you come from love and because you are loved.

May you take solace and comfort in knowing that your beloved is near... he is/she is... 

Because the presence of God is with you and the Spirit of God lives within you now and forever."  Amen.

Blessings

K. Mason

(c)2008

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Please pass this on family members, friends, co-workers, and other travelers on their journey to spiritual integration and wholeness.

Blessings

Plethora Ministries

Plethora Ministries
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Plethora Ministries

Please spread the word to others you know and if they are interested in receiving the WORD Of Reflection Devotion weekly (Forthcoming in a new book format in Fall 2012...stay tuned),please have them send an email to plethoraministries@yahoo.com and state in the subject line: "Request for WORD."Please feel free to write Plethora Ministries with your comments:

K.Mason
(c) 2012

Immortal Invisible

Immortal Invisible

Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the in habitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto the Lord

Joel 1:14

Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the Lord will do great things. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength. Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God.

Joel 2:21-23a

That which lives forever is immortal and that which we cannot see is invisible like the air that we breathe.

In our present time we are beset by an array of challenges that summon both our time and our attention. While life often presents us with the challenge to resolve urgent presenting issues immediately, we become simultaneously inundated or even avalanched by a cascade of more pressing issues subsequent to the issue that we are in the midst of remedying. We ponder and muse to ourselves that we are at the brink of breaking-point; i.e., the point of no return. Sometimes it appears that we are gasping for air, yet feel suffocated by the circumstances that beset us with little to no relief on the horizon. Sometimes those moments that we must gasp for air are further intensified and evident when our marriages fail, when our children go astray, when we are betrayed by those whom we trust, when our friends take a hiatus during the times we need them most, when years of dedicated service result in months of unemployment, when we lose our homes, when our finances are depleted, when sickness brings life as we  once celebrated it to a halt, when the shadow of death claims the lives of those whom we love, when parents place their children on psychological probation, when the good that we exemplify is spoken of as evil, when shame and slander are the news of the day, when doors of opportunity are slammed shut, when our brothers and sisters find shelter on the streets, when food is discarded in large quantities daily, yet far too families are left to starve while they bear witness to their children who fall prey to the disease of malnutrition, when we as members of this great nation, resort to internal fighting and conflict due to our own fears, biases, idiosyncrasies, and insecurities, while forgetting those things that unify us as one in the bond of love of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer. It appears that we have forgotten the unity that bonded us when our fathers, mothers, brother, sisters, and other beloved had returned home from world wars and civil wars as well as those times when collective medical efforts conquered disease. It seems that we have forgotten the sacrifices of those who paved the way before us who traversed rocky precipices in hues of Black, Red, White, Yellow, and Brown. It seems that we have forgotten those types of adversities that have changed our lives as we once knew it such as the horror of 911 and the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina all of which caused us to reckon with the reality that we are all in this thing called “life” together. What does this apathy that we, at present, experience mean we ponder? How did we veer off-track we muse? Is all lost? Is there anything reconcilable we ask ourselves even as we pray with heavy hearts and troubled minds? What does God require of us in such challenging times? What must we require of one another?

The Prophet, Joel, considered a minor prophet, yet with a major proclamation, petitions and reminds us that HOPE in God is still very much alive and that we must reconcile ourselves to God through our faith in Jesus Christ, whom redeems us. Joel reminds us that we must assemble and humble ourselves before God and petition his grace and mercy with the aid of our elders in a posture of submission coupled with the relinquishment of our self-righteousness and pompousness. When we place ourselves before the presence of God our Holy Father at the base of the Mercy Seat in an authentic and self-revelatory manner, fear, shame, doubt, desolation, brokenness, exclusion, and apathy can no longer lay claim to our destiny, our faith, and our royal priesthood because God our Father, who is the Ancient of Days is still on the throne! Because God is sovereign, trees will bear fruit, fountains will flow with living water, pastures will become green, and we as the sheep of his pasture will be enveloped in the presence of the Immortal Invisible, yet Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Omniscient Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Be Blessed,
K. Mason
(c) 2012

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Blessings

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K.Mason (c) 2012

Afternoon Refreshment

Afternoon RefreshmentMay you be sustained by the grace of GODMay your be calmed by the presence of GODMay you be encouraged by your faith in GODMay you be comforted by the peace of GODMay you be enveloped by the love of GOD

ISAIAH 55: 11
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

K. Mason
(c) 2005

For your convenience, all of the links to Plethora Ministries sites are listed below. All you are required to do is "click" and be blessed! Please pass this on family members, friends, co-workers, and other travelers on their journey to spiritual integration and wholeness.


Blessings
Plethora Ministries
Plethora Ministries

Click here for Web log Page [contains additional reflections not sent via mail and pictures]Comments may be entered in any entry of your choice
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/i/t/i/itiswell.htm

Click here for "IT IS WELL" Musical Midi

plethoraministries@yahoo.com
Plethora Ministries
Please spread the word to others you know and if they are interested in receiving the WORD Of Reflection Devotion weekly , please have them send an email to plethoraministries@yahoo.com and state in the subject line: "Request for WORD." Please feel free to write Plethora Ministries with your comments:

K.Mason

(c) 2005

DO NOT GIVE UP

Do Not Give Up

The journey can become weary sometimes. When we are witness bearers to the pervasive suffering of men, women, and children, the journey can take the wind from beneath our sails. 

It is at such times that we are invited to take hold of each other for encouragement and respite to replenish our souls and regenerate our hearts. 

It does not matter whether you are tall or short or whether you are rich or poor. It does not matter if you are Black, White, Red, or Yellow. It does not matter whether you are famous or unknown. However, what does matter is that we are spiritual beings on a human journey and human beings on a spiritual journey to the Celestial City of The Lord God!

On our journey may we cling fast to Hope, Faith, Compassion, Mercy, Empathy, and the greatest of these, which is "The Love of God," that will never, ever let us go! For it is His love that regenerates and heals and that liberates us to wholeness and spiritual integration and into the Celestial City whose maker is GOD!

 Remain Encouraged! 
GOD has the Universe in HIS Hands!

Blessings
K. Mason

ISAIAH 55: 11
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

K. Mason
(c) 2005 For your convenience, all of the links to Plethora Ministries sites are listed below. All you are required to do is "click" and be blessed! Please pass this on family members, friends, co-workers, and other travelers on their journey to spiritual integration and wholeness.


Blessings
Plethora Ministries
Plethora Ministries Click here for Web log Page [contains additional reflections not sent via mail and pictures]Comments may be entered in any entry of your choice
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/i/t/i/itiswell.htm

Click here for "IT IS WELL" Musical Midi

plethoraministries@yahoo.com
Plethora Ministries
Please spread the word to others you know and if they are interested in receiving the WORD Of Reflection Devotion weekly , please have them send an email to plethoraministries@yahoo.com and state in the subject line: "Request for WORD." Please feel free to write Plethora Ministries with your comments:

K.Mason

(c) 2005

THE ETERNAL FLAME

THE ETERNAL FLAME

When hope appears to go awry and faith waivers, always remember that your consecrated and majestic incandescent (spirit) illuminates from within you; i.e., 
GOD, whose spirit dwells within you! 

To this effect, light and goodness can never/ever be vanquished, because hope and despair, faith and doubt, light and darkness, and good and evil are intimately interwoven. 

Be of Good Cheer as good always conquers evil. 
Worry about what no man and/or woman can do to thee because 
" He who keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps." 
God is eternal!
"He who has begun a good you in you shall complete it."

TRUST GOD

K. Mason © 2004

ISAIAH 55: 11
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
K. Mason
(c) 2005

For your convenience, all of the links to Plethora Ministries sites are listed below. All you are required to do is "click" and be blessed! Please pass this on family members, friends, co-workers, and other travelers on their journey to spiritual integration and wholeness.


Blessings
Plethora Ministries
Plethora Ministries Click here for Web log Page [contains additional reflections not sent via mail and pictures]Comments may be entered in any entry of your choice
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/i/t/i/itiswell.htm

Click here for "IT IS WELL" Musical Midi

plethoraministries@yahoo.com
Plethora Ministries
Please spread the word to others you know and if they are interested in receiving the WORD Of Reflection Devotion weekly , please have them send an email to plethoraministries@yahoo.com and state in the subject line: "Request for WORD." Please feel free to write Plethora Ministries with your comments: K.Mason (c) 2005

HOLY WEEK MEDITATION 2007

AFTEROON REFLECTION

In the midst of our complex, compulsive, convulsive world men and women raise their voices to render utterance and interpretation to a world that is fraught with paradox and tempered by grace in the most astonishing of places. As seekers of truth, passion, meaning, and bliss we announce with incredible boldness and great
anticipation that were are waiting to seek what good thing can emerge from the bowels of our Nazareths, what wisdom can be garnered from loosing ourselves in oblivion, and what connections can be made from finding there in the midst of our greatest darkness our own light. The journey to wholeness invites and teaches us
that unless strength is tempered with the presence of weakness and weakness tempered with the presence of strength and both tempered with the presence of love, that we deny our own wholeness and that of the wholeness in others.

As we continue our journey, the holy pilgrimage, the trip to the bountiful, the quest to the celestial city of GOD, cultivation of the harvest in our fathers’ vineyard and our mothers’ garden are critical places of refuge where we must sometimes take respite to become more intimately acquainted with the healer who specializes in the binding and dressing of wounds with the balm of compassion and mercy, with the heroine to travail in birth as she renders new life from her primordial womb of wisdom, with the psalmist to play his lyre to soothe our weariness, brokenness, isolation, invisibility, insecurity, and ineptness into the banks of sleep against the backdrop of a blue satin night sky, with the artist to paint colors of ecstasy and passion, grandeur and splendor and in doing so paints beauty upon the palette of our psyche releasing frozen hopes, deferred dreams, and abandoned anticipations, with the sage who proclaims the LOGOS that chants psalms that speak of the “Wisdom of the Ages.”

We realize that time is a gift by which we encounter the Presence of the Divine through both the Kiros and the Chronos. This presence into which we are ushered some call GOD, some Jesus, some Allah, some Buddah, some Branman, some Shiva, some the Great Spirit, and others Higher Power. We come before your Divine,
Inescapable, and Eternal Presence God to invoke your blessing upon us and in us and with us as you and your will gets articulated, actuated, and activated in our lives. As we struggle to discern faith’s response to suffering, pain, injustice, brokenness, and hopelessness, remind us that hope accompanies faith and grace abides within.
As we gather to celebrate what it means to be made WHOLE, enable us to garner strength for the journey and wisdom for enlightenment. Enable us to be beckons of hope in brokenness, light in darkness, comfort in distress, quiet when there are tears, patience when there is struggle, and openness when there is fear as garner strength
and gain spiritual insight about GOD, self, and others.

As each of us progresses on our journey to the Celestial City of GOD, may the loving and gracious hand of GOD comfort you.

ISAIAH 55: 11
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

K. Mason

(c) 2005

For your convenience, all of the links to Plethora Ministries sites are listed below. All you are required to do is "click" and be blessed! Please pass this on family members, friends, co-workers, and other travelers on their journey to spiritual integration and wholeness.


Blessings
Plethora Ministries
Plethora Ministries

Click here for Web log Page

[contains additional reflections not sent via mail and pictures]

Comments may be entered in any entry of your choice
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/i/t/i/itiswell.htm

Click here for "IT IS WELL" Musical Midi

plethoraministries@yahoo.com
Plethora Ministries
Please spread the word to others you know and if they are interested in receiving the WORD Of Reflection Devotion weekly, please have them send an email to plethoraministries@yahoo.com and state in the subject line: "Request for WORD." Please feel free to write Plethora Ministries with your comments:

K.Mason

(c) 2005

WHEN VALLEYS ARE EXALTED

Plethora Ministries

WORD WEEK 03-25-07

WHEN VALLEYS BECOME EXALTED

ISAIAH 40:4-5, 29-31 KJV

4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: 5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. 29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: 31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

WHEN VALLEYS BECOME EXALTED

Disruptions, disappointments, betrayals, exclusions, deferred advancements, inappropriate dislodge of power, sickness, class bias, racial bias, gender bias, depression, destruction, disintegration of the dignity and the worth of human lives, prisons who capitalize on the births of African American males not yet born by projecting their life-paths by the age of three, wars that claim the lives of many who serve forever transforming the lives of their family members, famine, disease, brokenness, hopelessness, poverty, and the waste of the sanctity of innocent lives in the world as a consequence of war, greed, experimentation, and economics are a fraction of the plethora of valleys in which the beloved of GOD reside. Valleys, a place where the triumph of hope over experience stacks the odds of success, survival, prosperity, victorious living, self-empowerment, self-efficacy, solidarity, and community unity against the beloved of GOD! Pandemic unemployment, the United States work force crisis, disintegration in social and work ethics, drug-addicted babies who die as a consequence of having in utero exposure to drugs, children in Africa and India who die by the dozens as a consequences of malnutrition, revenue spent on the development of penal systems, and revenue retracted from budgets for recreation; music; humanities; liberal arts curriculums all of which are presently defunct in the public school system as they are not deemed a significant enough investment, but are on the brink merges. Blatant racism tempered by little regard and/or awareness of the seriousness and implication of deep-cutting infractions against the humanness of other human beings who have contributed to the prosperity of this nation, flagrant political mudslinging, and the celebration and sensationalism of superficial matters, like those who make the best-dressed list in the entertainment spotlight are types of valleys in which those who are admired and those who aspire to be admired define self-worth, recognition, validation, and acceptance.

Geographically expressed, a VALLEY is a low area of land surrounded by higher areas such as a hill(s) and/or mountains. VALLEYS are like that of a depression in the surface of a mountain.

As we reflect upon the Biblical Scripture above, one of the common themes to which we bear witness is the presence and the reality of valleys. We encounter glimpses of VALLEYS when we become witness bearers to the lament of Hagar, The Egyptian Woman Servant, who cries beneath a tree when she feared the death of her son and Abraham's son, Ishmael, subsequent to being banished by Sarah. We become witness bearers to those who are placed in depressions (VALLEYS) when we travail with Joseph whose brothers sought his demise by placing him in a well and leaving him for dead!. Lastly, we encounter desolation and the "dark night of the soul" when we are witness bearers to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ who asks The FATHER about the psychology and dynamic of forsakenness as he lay nailed and dying.

While VALLEYS are present throughout the world and cover the globe without regard to status, ethnicity, or bloodline, they become a place where suffering is so great that the BELOVED OF GOD have become immune to and/or anesthetized by their immensity and profundity! Moreover, the passion of living abundantly and joyously appears to have been abducted by the sobering reality that hearts of too many of GOD'S people are becoming apathetic because VALLEYS have become places where GOD'S PEOPLE have come to believe that they are destined to reside! Consequently, far too many of the LORD'S people have given up, given out, and have given in because they believe that their tears nor their desolate state in the VALLEY do not touch the heart of a loving and gracious GOD! In essence, climbing out of the VALLEY appears to require too much work and does not appear to avert one's present suffering. Consequently, GOD'S BELOVED are born there, live there, and die there; not because they are destined too, but because they falsely believe that they are destined to! Help us GOD!

In essence, VALLEYS are not only places where one THE BELOVED physically reside, but VALLEYS are places where THE BELOVED emotionally and psychologically reside as well! VALLEYS are the places in our lives the cause far too many gifted, talented, and spiritually-grounded persons to abandon the necessity of hope, the quest of of dreaming, and the perseverance to bring those dreams into fruition because the fear of the height, the breadth, scope, and the depth of the mountains that are before us appear insurmountable! VALLEYS are those places when the persons we love die! VALLEYS are the places where hearts have been broken! VALLEYS are the places where betrayal is flagrant and commonplace! VALLEYS are the places where suicide reigns because the beauty of life has become scared by ugliness and despair and the quick way out appears to be the only way out! VALLEYS are the places where kindness and gratitude are virtues of a by-gone era! VALLEYS are the places where feel-good drugs are considered common-place and cool because reality appears like the fantasy and fantasy like reality! VALLEYS are the places where me, myself, and I are the only persons about whom "love thy neighbor" dare to become intimate! VALLEYS are the places where persons are placed on psychological and emotional probation, not so much because the convicted has not made atonement for his/her ways, but because far too many of THE BELOVED are sitting in the seat of JUDGE, PROSECUTOR and JUROR! VALLEYS!

While VALLEYS in and of themselves can extinguish life, VALLEYS are also places where man's DESTINY meets GOD'S DIVINITY! In other words, VALLEYS are the places that the power, breath, depth, scope, and infiniteness of GOD'S omnipotence becomes manifested! Simply stated, VALLEYS can become places where one comes to the reality of the power of and the necessity of the intervention of GOD! African -Americans in servitude and slavery endured their harsh realities because many were born lived, and died in the VALLEY, but died with an awareness that their off-spring who be exalted from the VALLEY via the power of GOD!!

The "Word OF GOD" reminds us that GOD gives power to the weary and faint in the VALLEY! GOD promises to exalt every low place [VALLEY] and lower every high place [mountains] that are oppressive to those ensnared by VALLEY experiences. In the VALLEY where there are crooked and rough paths, GOD promises to straighten and smooth the path of the journey of HIS BELOVED! Consequently, when we are in the VALLEY, the good news is that GOD is in the VALLEY with us as well and it is by the gracious presence of The Holy Spirit that HE enables us to absorb the shock of a deepening spirituality that can only be yielded via VALLEY encounters! We are witness bearers via the Prophets in the Old Testament who remind us that our strength, fortitude, vision, hope, song, and petitions are often conveyed to the LORD not only by words, but via our moans and groans and tears which the HOLY SPIRIT maketh intercession from the VALLEY! The petitions of the BELOVED OF GOD provokes the gentle hand of GOD to carry the Beloved Wounded over mountains, through valleys, and across oceans. In VALLEYS of distress, lean on GOD! In VALLEYS of brokenness, rely on GOD, In VALLEYS of numbness cling to GOD! In VALLEYS of confusion, trust GOD! In VALLEYS of grief, be comforted by GOD! In VALLEYS of despair, place your hope in GOD! In VALLEYS of disappointments, tell GOD! In VALLEYS of war, pray to GOD! In VALLEYS of stagnation, surrender to GOD! In VALLEYS of brokenness, give "it" over to GOD! In VALLEYS of loneliness, be comforted by GOD! In VALLEYS of transition, love GOD! Subsequently, as each event/narrative unfolds, we become witness bearers to the transformative power of VALLEYS as we are reminded the life happens and that VALLEYS then become Oh' Blessed VALLEY OF GOD! When we encounter Jesus in our suffering and when everything familiar to us appears to be communicated via our VALLEY experiences, Jesus touches us in a way that causes our suffering and brokenness to become our comfort and strength. Throughout the sacred text; i.e., from the book Genesis to the book of Revelation, we as the Beloved Community of GOD are petitioned to embrace the spiritual necessity that the Divine Journey will summons the necessity of the VALLEY in our lives.

When we abandon the parameters of human reason alone and "tap" the consciousness of GOD, our lives become transformed in our realization that our lives are really not our own, but gifts birthed by the unfathomable love of GOD! The Holy Spirit causes something to happen to us, with us, and in us as we know that victory and triumph can only come from divine intervention which on many occasions has been activated by the VALLEY! As each of us progresses on our journey to the Celestial City of GOD, may the loving and gracious hand of GOD comfort you in response to your VALLEYS. May the words that only your tears can render expression grant you peace and release.

ISAIAH 55: 11
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

K. Mason
(c) 2005

For your convenience, all of the links to Plethora Ministries sites are listed below. All you are required to do is "click" and be blessed! Please pass this on family members, friends, co-workers, and other travelers on their journey to spiritual integration and wholeness.


Blessings
Plethora MinistriesPlethora Ministries Click here for Web log Page

[contains additional reflections not sent via mail and pictures]Comments may be entered in any entry of your choicehttp://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/i/t/i/itiswell.htm

Click here for "IT IS WELL" Musical Midi

plethoraministries@yahoo.com
Plethora Ministries
Please spread the word to others you know and if they are interested in receiving the WORD Of Reflection Devotion weekly , please have them send an email to plethoraministries@yahoo.com and state in the subject line: "Request for WORD." Please feel free to write Plethora Ministries with your comments:

K.Mason

(c) 2005