Quick - Slow - Slow

Quick, Slow, Slow is the formula that I try to employ when situations get tense. Not always good at it... sometimes the Redheaded Irishman gets the best of me, but I'm working on it. In these times of polarized politics and civil unrest I think it would help us get past all of the angry rhetoric if we could employ this little formula when we have disagreements. If we could pause for long enough to take a few deep breaths and listen to the other person's point of view, show some respect and empathy then we just might discover that we're closer to a solution than it first appeared.

"My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires" (James 1:19-20)

Peace, Love and Light!
Kevin (Cloud) 

What If They Had A War and The Peacemakers Showed Up?

 

What if they had a war and nobody showed up? It might sound like a silly little sentiment, but it’s such a Hippie thing to say. Jesus said that His Kingdom was not of this world and we are told in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 that we don’t war against flesh and blood. Jesus said in the Beatitudes that Peacemakers would be called the children of God. But what is a Peacemaker and is that different than a Peacekeeper? A Peacemaker helps facilitate the resolution of conflict, makes a way for reconciliation, promotes healing, and works towards wholeness and justice for all parties. Whereas the role of a Peacekeeper is preventing the continuation of armed conflict or reengagement of combatants and to protect non-combatant civilians, by the use of force if necessary. The United Nations is an example of an international peacekeeping force. Your local police are actually called "Sworn Peace Officers” whose job is to preserve the peace, maintain public safety and to protect life, limb and property. The UN and local police officers are not Peacemakers - that’s not their mission, but ultimately Peacemakers and Peacekeepers need each other to bring about a peace that has a chance of being longterm and more than just the mere absence of conflict.

What if they had a war and the Peacemakers showed up?

Peace, Love and Light!

Kevin (Cloud)

     

The Work Will Remain The Work

 

As we start a new year, I ask myself what will I spend my time focused on in the days ahead? Will it be something important or a total time drain? Will I expend my energy doing something meaningful and worthwhile? Will it bring the Kingdom into someone's life.

 

Time and energy are very much in short supply these days and with so many distractions pulling in so many different directions, the day-to-day demands of life and the multiple streams of media promoting the latest cause célèbre it becomes almost impossible to stay focused and on task.

The Sermon on the Mount gives us the framework for Kingdom Life and what is important to focus our time, energy, and resources on.

I think that The Clergy Coaching Network said it quite succinctly:

"The work will remain the work.

To love your neighbor.

To be generous with a stranger.

To protect the water, the air, the soil.

To heal old wounds.

To not make new ones.

The work remains the work.

In fact it has all become,

suddenly, even more important."

So, the work will remain the work! It's not so much a New Year's resolution, I'm not one to make or for that matter keep New Year's resolutions. It comes as more of a resolve to stay on track, to keep on keeping on as we used to say.

Keep the faith and keep on truck'n

Peace, Love and Light!

Kevin (Cloud)

Rock Mass - Christmas 2025

 

Rock Mass

Rock Mass - Christmas 2025 Edition

Peace, Love and Light!

Kevin (Cloud)

The inspiration for creating "Rock Mass" came from the Rock Mass at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena California back in the early 1970’s. On the first Friday night of each month All Saints held a Rock Mass which was a mix of traditional Episcopalian Mass and rock concert. A live band would play popular rock music which couldn’t necessarily be called “Christian” but contained spiritual phrases and references to God or Jesus. During the 1960’s and early 1970’s there was an explosion of these songs coming out of the "secular" music industry way before there was “Contemporary Christian Music”, in a way, it could be called "The Gospel According To Billboard's Top 10".

(Stained glass guitar angel found at www.patheos.com/blogs/nadiabolzweber)

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Rock Mass 11-02-2025

Rock Mass

Rock Mass 11/02/2025

“You are the salt of the earth,

but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored?

It is no longer good for anything but is thrown out and trampled under foot.

“You are the light of the world.

A city built on a hill cannot be hid.

People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket;

rather, they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before others,

so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven."

~Jesus

(Matthew 5:13-16)

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

(1 Peter 2:9-10)

Peace, Love, and Light!

Kevin (Cloud)

The inspiration for creating "Rock Mass" came from the Rock Mass at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena California back in the early 1970’s. On the first Friday night of each month All Saints held a Rock Mass which was a mix of traditional Episcopalian Mass and rock concert. A live band would play popular rock music which couldn’t necessarily be called “Christian” but contained spiritual phrases and references to God or Jesus. During the 1960’s and early 1970’s there was an explosion of these songs coming out of the "secular" music industry way before there was “Contemporary Christian Music”, in a way, it could be called "The Gospel According To Billboard's Top 10".

(Stained glass guitar angel found at www.patheos.com/blogs/nadiabolzweber)

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It's Not a Spectator Sport!

 

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

(1 Peter 2:9-10)

...from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

(Ephesians 4:16)

It's not a spectator sport!

Peace, Love and Light!

Kevin (Cloud)

Rock Mass 10-05-2025

Rock Mass

Rock Mass 10/05/2025

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

(James 3:9-12)

Peace, Love, and Light!

Kevin (Cloud)

The inspiration for creating "Rock Mass" came from the Rock Mass at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena California back in the early 1970’s. On the first Friday night of each month All Saints held a Rock Mass which was a mix of traditional Episcopalian Mass and rock concert. A live band would play popular rock music which couldn’t necessarily be called “Christian” but contained spiritual phrases and references to God or Jesus. During the 1960’s and early 1970’s there was an explosion of these songs coming out of the "secular" music industry way before there was “Contemporary Christian Music”, in a way, it could be called "The Gospel According To Billboard's Top 10".

(Stained glass guitar angel found at www.patheos.com/blogs/nadiabolzweber)

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I Should Love My Opponents And Want Only The Best For Them

This morning, I snuck out of the house while everyone was still asleep. My goal was to satisfy a buttermilk pancake craving I've had for the last three days, but my dilemma was which diner to go to. Ultimately, I decided to go to a diner where I knew a few guys met on Friday mornings to discuss the Bible over breakfast hoping to at least say hello. As I was leaving, one of the Brothers recognized me from a previous chance encounter and introduced me to the group. I shared some of my thoughts about theology, that no matter how sound it might be, it is wrong if it leads to the mistreatment of others. I was asked what I was going to be doing for Jesus today, and I said I was going to be blogging today about loving our enemies... so that brings me to a topic that has been on my mind for the last week or so...

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says to "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may become the children of your Father in heaven" and then follows up with the rhetorical question; "Why should God reward you if you love only the people who love you?" This is so different from what we are seeing right now in our hyper-polarized Nation where tribalism and revenge politics rule the day.

If we are truly Children of God, then we cannot participate in the hatred of those whom we disagree with. No matter how right you think your cause is or how evil you believe the other side might be there is no room for hatred in the heart of someone who calls themself a Christian. We are called to a higher love, we must see everyone as precious in the eyes of God. Every person deserves to be treated with dignity and respect no matter how strongly we disagree with them. We are all entitled to our own opinions and with that we are all entitled to be wrong - but we are also entrusted with the care of our fellow human beings.

"The one major thing you have to remember is that the man next to you is your brother, and you'd damn well better treat each other that way because if you don't, then we blow the whole thing, but we've got it right there." (Announcement from "Chip" Monck, Woodstock 1969)

Our politics may be "Right" or "Left" or somewhere in the middle but first and foremost we are God's children and therefore Brothers and Sisters in God's eyes.

“But I tell you who hear me:

Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

bless those who curse you,

and pray for those who mistreat you."

~Jesus (Luke 27-28)

Peace, Love and Light!
Kevin (Cloud)

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Rock Mass 09-07-2025

 

Rock Mass

Rock Mass 09-07-2025

He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

~Jesus

(Luke 10:2)

Peace, Love, and Light!

Kevin (Cloud)

The inspiration for creating "Rock Mass" came from the Rock Mass at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena California back in the early 1970’s. On the first Friday night of each month All Saints held a Rock Mass which was a mix of traditional Episcopalian Mass and rock concert. A live band would play popular rock music which couldn’t necessarily be called “Christian” but contained spiritual phrases and references to God or Jesus. During the 1960’s and early 1970’s there was an explosion of these songs coming out of the "secular" music industry way before there was “Contemporary Christian Music”, in a way, it could be called "The Gospel According To Billboard's Top 10".

(Stained glass guitar angel found at www.patheos.com/blogs/nadiabolzweber)

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The Miracle of The Feeding The 5,000

Five Loaves and Two Fish pendant by Kerri W.

I have been thinking about the miracle of Jesus feeding a crowd of over five thousand hungry people with just five loaves of barley bread and two fish. This particular miracle appears in all four of the Gospels, all with very similar details. In the made for TV series The Chosen, Jesus is portrayed as blessing the five barley loaves and two fish, after which they are placed in several baskets where they miraculously multiply to near overflowing before being distributed to the hungry people by the disciples. But I wonder if Hollywood got it wrong.

What if the miracle actually took place in the hands of the disciples, the bread and fish multiplying each time they broke off a piece? Then, what if it multiplied as each person took it and broke off what they needed and passed it to the next person? What if it simply multiplied again and again, over and over in their hands exponentially until every person had more than enough to eat to the point where there were enough leftovers to fill up the twelve baskets as the Gospels claim?

I realize that this way of thinking about the feeding of the five thousand probably doesn't exactly follow the pattern of Jesus' other miracles which seemed to happen in an enormous and sudden fashion. Many of Jesus' miracles involve some form of participation on the part of those receiving healing or water being turned to wine or catching a huge load of fish after a futile night of empty nets. The feeding of the five thousand has some of the same elements of participatory faith, but the Gospel accounts of Jesus feeding the five thousand lack that Cecil B. DeMille flair of enormity and suddenness that Hollywood loves and that leaves me imagining five thousand individual miracles happening right in the very hands of the recipients.

The point I'm trying to make is that participation in the miracles of Jesus just might be a series of small acts rather than a big showy event. Maybe you can't feed five thousand people at once, but you can show acts of kindness and generosity to one person at a time. We can go through life being overwhelmed by the great needs of the whole world feeling that we can't make a difference, and that might be the reality. But we can make a world of difference in one person's life.

From him the whole body,

joined and held together by every supporting ligament,

grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

(Ephesians 4:16)

Peace, Love and Light!

Kevin (Cloud)

Rock Mass 08-04-2025

Rock Mass

Rock Mass 08-04-2025

"After Forever"

Written by; John "Ozzy" Osbourne, Tony Iommi, W.T. Ward, Terence Michael Butler

Have you ever thought about your soul - can it be saved?

Or perhaps you think that when you're dead you just stay in your grave

Is God just a thought within your head or is he a part of you?

Is Christ just a name that you read in a book when you were in school?

When you think about death do you lose your breath or do you keep your cool?

Would you like to see the Pope on the end of a rope - do you think he's a fool?

Well I have seen the truth, yes I've seen the light and I've changed my ways

And I'll be prepared when you're lonely and scared at the end of our days

Could it be you're afraid of what your friends might say

If they knew you believe in God above?

They should realize before they criticize

that God is the only way to love

Is your mind so small that you have to fall

In with the pack wherever they run

Will you still sneer when death is near

And say they may as well worship the sun?

I think it was true it was people like you that crucified Christ

I think it is sad the opinion you had was the only one voiced

Will you be so sure when your day is near, say you don't believe?

You had the chance but you turned it down, now you can't retrieve

Perhaps you'll think before you say that God is dead and gone

Open your eyes, just realize that he's the one

The only one who can save you now from all this sin and hate

Or will you still jeer at all you hear? Yes! I think it's too late.

R.I.P.

John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne

Dec 3, 1948 - July 22, 2025

Peace, Love, and Light!

Kevin (Cloud)

The inspiration for creating "Rock Mass" came from the Rock Mass at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena California back in the early 1970’s. On the first Friday night of each month All Saints held a Rock Mass which was a mix of traditional Episcopalian Mass and rock concert. A live band would play popular rock music which couldn’t necessarily be called “Christian” but contained spiritual phrases and references to God or Jesus. During the 1960’s and early 1970’s there was an explosion of these songs coming out of the "secular" music industry way before there was “Contemporary Christian Music”, in a way, it could be called "The Gospel According To Billboard's Top 10".

(Stained glass guitar angel found at www.patheos.com/blogs/nadiabolzweber)

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Rock Mass 07-13-2025

Rock Mass

Rock Mass 07-13-2025

But someone will say, “One person has faith, another has actions.”

My answer is, “Show me how anyone can have faith without actions.

I will show you my faith by my actions.”

(James 2:18)

He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow,

and loves the foreigner residing among you,

giving them food and clothing.

(Deuteronomy 10:18)

And the king will answer them,

‘Truly I tell you,

just as you did it to one of the least of these

brothers and sisters of mine,

you did it to me.’

~Jesus

(Matthew 25:40)

Peace, Love, and Light!

Kevin (Cloud)

The inspiration for creating "Rock Mass" came from the Rock Mass at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena California back in the early 1970’s. On the first Friday night of each month All Saints held a Rock Mass which was a mix of traditional Episcopalian Mass and rock concert. A live band would play popular rock music which couldn’t necessarily be called “Christian” but contained spiritual phrases and references to God or Jesus. During the 1960’s and early 1970’s there was an explosion of these songs coming out of the "secular" music industry way before there was “Contemporary Christian Music”, in a way, it could be called "The Gospel According To Billboard's Top 10".

(Stained glass guitar angel found at www.patheos.com/blogs/nadiabolzweber)

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