MikePaschall.com

Power is a genuine paradox to believers. We love it and we hate it. We despise its evil and appreciate its good. We would like to do without it, but we know it is part and parcel of human life.

Our ambivalence about power is resolved in the vow of service. Jesus picked up a basin and a towel and, in doing so, redefined the meaning and function of power. “If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you” (John 13:14-15}. In the everlasting Kingdom of Christ, low is high, down is up, weak is strong, services power. Do you sincerely want to engage in the ministry of power? Do you want to be a leader who is blessing to people? Do you honestly want to be used of God to heal human hearts? Then learn to become a servant of all. “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all” (Mark 9:35). The ministry of power functions through the ministry of the towel.

—From Richard J. Foster, Money, Sex, and Power

I must admit that I am sickened at heart about the abuse of power that I see displayed every day in our country. I realize that isn’t everyone’s thoughts on the subject, but I’m pretty much over it. Power isn’t new. But the love of power by current Christ-followers is a strange twist that I can’t quite come to grips with. Is it not contrary to the teachings and ortho-praxy of the Christ? Does that little observation not matter to us anymore? We seem to be drunk on the stuff. Wild eyed and rabidly in love with our own alliance to money, power, and winning at all costs. All this huffin’ and puffin’ and spiritual violence in the Name of Jesus… is just bizarre and seems to be out of sync with “Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” He did say something to us about “the kingdom suffers violence” via the abuse of force and power. I fail to see the “good” in it at any level.

“The ministry of power functions through the ministry of the towel.”

This line by Foster is cutting. He’s talking about real power; not the kind that is based in self interest, self promotion and ego. This is something that is more congruent with the heart and nature of Christ. A power that genuinely comes out of servitude, humility, and preference for the other. It is so different from the norm, I wonder if we can really let this into our spirits.

“Then learn how to become a servant of all.” How in the world would we ever get there in our current state of affairs? How? I’m trying to process this. It seems to me, that Jesus WAS servant of all, because he FIRST LOVED all. That love component had to be present or it would have been impossible to serve without reservation or prejudice. Certainly, it is no different for us. Power has no use of love, and servitude to all is impossible without love.

I concur, the Body of Christ needs revival… an awakening out of our illicit affair with the powers and principalities of this world.  But our focus has to be on our grasp of the truth that God’s love for all of creation is absolute. Duality isn’t working for us. Trying to build a kingdom rooted in violence and supremacy isn’t working for us either. The kingdom “does suffer violence,” because we’ve abandoned faith for gain of natural force. Until we change our tactics, I think we’re foolish to pray for peace. That ship sailed when we chose power over people.  —MDP

LOVE!  BECAUSE EVERYONE NEEDS LOVE.

Peace be with all of you!

Dearest brothers and sisters, this is the first greeting of the Risen Christ, the good shepherd who gave his life for God’s flock. I, too, would like this greeting of peace to enter your hearts, to reach your families, and all people, wherever they are, all of the people, all over the earth.

Peace be with you!

This is the peace of the Risen Christ, an unarmed peace and a disarming peace, humble and persevering. It comes from God, God who loves us all unconditionally. We still have in our ears that weak, but always courageous voice of Pope Francis as he blessed Rome!

The Pope who blessed Rome, gave his blessing to the world, to the entire world, that Easter morning. Allow me to follow up on that same blessing: God loves us, God loves you all, and evil will not prevail!

We are all in the hands of God.

Therefore, without fear, united hand in hand with God and among ourselves, we move forward. We are disciples of Christ.

Christ precedes us. The world needs his light. Humanity needs him as the bridge to allows it to be reached by God and by his love.

Help us, too, and help each other to build bridges, with dialogue, with meetings, uniting us all to be one people, always in peace. Thank you, Pope Francis! I also want to thank all my brother cardinals who have chosen me to be Peter’s Successor, and to walk together with you, as a united Church always seeking peace, justice, always seeking peace, justice, always seeking to work as men and women who are faithful to Jesus Christ, without fear, to proclaim the Gospel, to be missionaries.

I am a son of Saint Augustine, an Augustinian, who said: “with you I am a Christian and for you I am a bishop”. In this sense, we can all walk together towards that homeland that God has prepared for us.

To the Church of Rome, a special greeting! We must seek together how to be a missionary Church, a Church that builds bridges, dialogue, always open to receive like this square with its open arms, all, all who need our charity, our presence, dialogue and love.

And if you allow me a word, a greeting to all and especially to my beloved diocese of Chiclayo, in Peru, where a faithful people accompanied their bishop, shared their faith and gave so, so much to continue being a Church that is faithful to Jesus Christ.

To all of you, brothers and sisters of Rome, of Italy, of the whole world, we want to be a Church of the Synod, a Church that walks, a Church that always seeks peace, that always seeks charity, that always seeks to be close, especially to those who suffer.

Today is the day of the Supplication to Our Lady of Pompeii. Our Mother Mary always wants to walk with us, to be close, to help us with her intercession and her love. So, I would like to pray together with you. Let us pray together for this new mission, for the whole Church, for peace in the world and let us also ask Mary, our Mother, for this special grace.

Hail Mary…

—Pope Leo XIV

2025

AMEN my brother… verily I say… “YES, and AMEN!”

-MDP

In one of the parables, Jesus tells the story of a certain nobleman who went abroad to obtain power for himself and then return. Before he left, he called his ten servants, giving them each a twenty-dollar bill, and telling them, “Trade with this until I come back.” When he returned, he ordered his servants to be brought before him for their report.

The first man said, “Sir, your twenty dollars have made one hundred.”

“Fine,” said the nobleman.

The second man said, “Sir, your twenty dollars have made fifty dollars.”

“Excellent,” said the nobleman.

The third man was the only one who made a speech. He said, “Sir, here is your twenty dollars. I kept it safe in a napkin, for I was afraid of you. Perhaps you do not know this, but you have a reputation of being a very hard man. You pick up what you have never put down. You reap where you have not sown, you gather into barns what you have not planted!”

 The nobleman was incensed. He ordered the servant cast off of his place into “outer darkness.”

Here, I’ll make an end of the story. The unfortunate servant was not cast off because he did not realize any profit for the nobleman. No. He was cast off because he did not “work at it.”

We are never under obligation to achieve results. Of course, results are important —and it may be that is the reason effort is put forth. But results are not mandatory. Much of the energy and effort, and many anxious hours, are spent obsessing over the probable failure or success of our ventures. No one likes to fail. But it is important to remember that under certain circumstances, failure is its own success.

To keep one’s eye on results is to detract markedly from the business at hand. This is to be diverted from the task itself. Is to be only partially available to demands at hand. Very often it causes one to betray one’s own inner sense of values because to hold fast to the integrity of the act may create a kind of displeasure which in the end will affect the results. However, if the results are left free to form themselves in terms of the quality and character of the act, then all of one’s resources can be put at the disposal of the act itself.

There are many forces over which the individual can exercise no control whatsoever. A man plants a seed in the ground and the seed sprouts and grows. The weather, the elements, cannot be controlled by the farmer. The result is never a sure thing. So what does the farmer do? He plants. Always he plants. Again and again he works at it—the ultimate confidence and assurance that even though his seed does not grow to fruition, seeds do grow and they do come to fruition.

The task of those who work for the Kingdom of God, is to “Work” for the Kingdom of God. The result beyond this demand is not in their hands. Those who keep their eyes on results cannot give themselves wholeheartedly to their task, however simple or complex that task may be.

—From “The Inward Journey” by Howard Thurman

“So what does the farmer do? He plants. Always he plants.”

Although written over fifty years ago, Thurman’s writing is still spot on, and a much-needed reminder of the simplistic heart and authentic purpose of our call to kingdom values. It strangely appears that most of the Church now equates “kingdom” to power politics and social hard lines. It’s cringe worthy. Disappointing. Brutally ugly. Honestly, I don’t recognize us anymore. “Us” being the Bride of Christ. A people who are to live and walk in the essence of His nature and character, i.e. check the “fruits of the Spirit” (GAL 5:22-23). Sons and daughters who understand how deeply loved we are and validate that truth with a love to everyone we share space with on earth. When did the love of warfare and “tit-for-tat” tactics start taking priority over how Jesus lived and loved on this planet? When did He ever hit back, punch back, exploit or remove the weaker souls from among us? If anyone had the right for a reckoning, it was Him, but He did not retaliate. Not even close.

I remember Jesus warning the disciples about the ambition and greed of enforcing an agenda on earth that included domination tactics. What He said exactly was, “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force” (MT 11:12). THIS is a warning. NOT an invitation, nor a mandate for power-over positioning of any kind. In fact, this is about as far as it can possibly be from the mission and life directives of the Christ. Jesus laid it out very clearly in his first real message while reading from Isaiah:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,

Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.

He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To set free those who are oppressed,

To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

(LUKE 4:18-19)

Thurman’s parable explanation is so beautiful because he takes the “spirit of legalism” out of the equation. There’s no drivenness in kingdom work other than basic human kindness, decency, compassion, graciousness, gratefulness, and “loving neighbor as we love ourselves.”

Let me finish with this: America is not the kingdom that Jesus was talking about. We Christians have a very different leader—another source for our security, life, and purpose. God’s kingdom includes everyone, regardless of our differences. And our purpose is to be LOVE in every way possible, each and every day. Looking at myself and looking at us, it appears we’ve lost the plot somewhere along the way.

I believe we can be better. We must do better. —MDP

Though it might be argued, theoretically, that a Christianity in which men know how to picket, but not how to pray, is bound to wither, theorizing is not required, because we can already observe the logic of events. The fact is that emphasis upon the life of our outer service, without a corresponding emphasis upon the life of devotion, has already led to obviously damaging results, one of which is calculated arrogance. How different it might be if the angry activists were to heed the words found in The Imitation of Christ, “Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be.”

The essence of pietism, by contrast, is the limitation of primary interest to personal salvation. Even today, by the highways, we can see signs paid for by somebody, which urge us to “get right with God.” The evil of this well-intentioned effort lies not in what it says, but in what it so evidently omits. The assumption is that salvation is nothing more than a private transaction between the individual and God and that it can become an accomplished, dated event.

—From The New Man for Our Time by Elton Trueblood

The assumption is that salvation is nothing more than a private transaction between the individual and God and that it can become an accomplished, dated event.”

We might ask, “And what is the problem of an ‘accomplished, dated event’ in regard to salvation?” The event is the birth… the beginning… new life with a new direction… a wake-up to a new order of living free and fully alive. Although sanctification is a part of the regenerative package, it also takes an entire lifetime to live into the fullness of His likeness and bury our natural affinity for dead works or no works at all. A change of what you do with your Sunday mornings doesn’t really tell the tale does it? A person with an “accomplished, dated event” can remain spiritually infantile and unengaged in kingdom activity. We still have to follow.  We still have to deny self. We still have to invest a listening ear and attentive heart to what the Spirit has to say. Growth “spiritually” is the only fruit possible when one is fully aware of the massive love that God has for us. —MDP

 LIVE LOVE!

How do we love God? We have put our emphasis on trying to love God, which is probably a good way to start—although we do not have a clue how to do that. What I consistently find in the mystics is an overwhelming experience of how God has loved them. God is always the initiator, God is the doer, God is the one who seduces us. All we can do is respond in kind and, exactly as Meister Eckhart said,

“The love by which we love God is the very same love with which God has first loved us.”

The mystics’ overwhelming experiences are full body blows of the Divine loving them, God radically accepting them. And they spend the rest of their lives trying to verbalize those experiences, invariably finding ways to give that love back through forms of service, compassion, and nonstop worship. But none of this is to earn God’s love; it’s always and only to return God’s love. Love is repaid by love alone.

      —Adapted from Following the Mystics Through the Narrow Gate…. Seeing God in All Things, by Richard Rohr O.F.M.

If we’re really paying attention to the love that God has for us (beyond mere consideration of salvation—for us and humanity) and relating to the massive reality of what it means to exist (mind, body, and spirit)… along with our amazing capacities to absorb and understand all the ways that God loves us… shouldn’t we be more prone to love others? Is it blasphemy that we don’t love who God loves… which is everyone? I suspect so.. on both counts. —MDP

1 John 4:20-21 – If you say you love God but hate your sister or brother, you are a liar. For you cannot love God, whom you have not seen, if you hate your neighbor, whom you have seen. If we love God, we should love our sisters and brothers as well; we have this commandment from God.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT… LOVE WINS.

The world has suffered much from the various forms of Christian colonialism. Yet the reign of God is an alternative to domination systems and all “isms.” Jesus teaches that right relationship (that is, LOVE) is the ultimate and daily criterion. If a social order allows and encourages strong connectedness between people and creation, people and each other, people and God, then we have a truly sacred culture: the reign of God. It wouldn’t be a world without pain or mystery, but simply a world where we are connected and in communion with all things.  

God’s reign is about union and communion, which means that it’s also about mercy, forgiveness, nonviolence, letting go, solidarity, service, and lives of love, patience, and simplicity. Who can doubt that this is the sum and substance of Jesus’ teaching? In the reign of God, the very motives for rivalry, greed, and violence have been destroyed. We know we’re all part of God’s beloved community.

Jesus called into community a small group of people. They were his disciples and friends. He taught them the essence of faith—the love of God and the love of neighbor—and he became a role model to them. When they asked him to teach them to pray, he taught them to pray for the coming of God’s kingdom: “Your kingdom come, your will be done.” If you want to be children of God, he said, you need to be engaged in peacemaking; if you want to imitate God and be God’s children, you have to love your enemies and to pray for those that persecute you. If you want to resist evil, do not use evil methods. You have to practice forgiveness and reconciliation. You must be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. — Anglican priest, Naim Ateek

Every description Jesus offers of God’s reign—of love, relationship, non-judgment, and forgiveness, where the last shall be first and the first shall be last—shows that any imposition on God’s side is an impossibility! Wherever we’ve tried to force Christianity on people, the long-term results have been disastrous. The gospel flourishes in the realm of true freedom.  

But it’s a freedom we must choose for ourselves. It is almost impossible to turn away from what seems like the only game in town (political, economic, or religious), unless we have glimpsed a more attractive alternative. It’s hard to imagine it, much less imitate it, unless we see someone else do it first. Jesus is that icon of the more attractive alternative, a living parable. Jesus has forever changed our human imagination, and we are now both burdened and gladdened by new possibility. There is good news to counter the deadening bad news, but we first have to be turned away from a conventional way of understanding. 

— by Father Richard Rohr, O.F.M

If I’m honest, I can’t say that I’ve always understood “the reign of God” in this way.  As a young man, I saw this as a power move by God to force humanity into submission. We would either be willing participants (soldiers), or forced to be subservient slaves.  Otherwise, burn, baby, burn. There was a lot of talk about the judgement of God. Fear was a prime motivator, and love wasn’t ever much of any part of the conversation when mentioning God’s kingdom or the reign of God.

Although I did my best to get on board, I was unclear of Jesus’ master mission, outside of “saving” me… or you. It’s embarrassing to say that, but that’s why I say it. Decades later, I can honestly say that I think I see some of the master mission a little clearer. I do imagine a world without dominion politics or bigoted hate. And I do hope for real systems of unconditional love which triumph over our forced rhythms of control and judgment.

I realize we aren’t there. Okay, we’re not even remotely close. But I do have faith that real love will win, and the reign of God will overcome the mess we’ve gotten ourselves into on this planet. The birth pains will be enormous, but the kingdom will eventually come into fullness, and everything will be what it is supposed to be. And the most exciting part of that, is that you and I have the choice to begin NOW,  by living into the very essence of God’s kingdom: love, relationship, non-judgment, and forgiveness.

Someone has to plow in the fallow ground.  Let’s go. —MDP

BE GOOD AT LIFE.   LOVE.

IT MATTERS.

It’s always fun to share exciting news, but that usually means something changed… something moved… someone is growing up!

#WilliamtheWarrior (William Michael Brewer) is about to turn six, and in the blink of an eye… he’s gone from this:

to this:

HOW IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE? The boy has absolutely slayed Kindergarten this year, and now he’s on to First Grade next fall. And please know… he’s doing so well!

Like any other goofy little 5-year-old boy… he lives a pretty normal existence despite living beyond three major heart operations, numerous catheterizations, and too many intrusive doctor visits and pokes to count. He’s a remarkable, happy, and loving kid, and we are so proud of him.

Sidenote: William has another heart catheterization scheduled for May 31st. WTW has grown, and the procedure will help facilitate the blood flow he needs. Thank you for remembering him in your prayers.

Now… for some excitement!

In honor of WTW and the medical community he is surrounded by, we want to offer another round of WTW tees. Proceeds from your purchases will benefit the: The Heart Institute at Children’s Hospital Colorado. This place and people are near and dear to William’s family.

CLICK – #WTW / t-shirts or use the QR code to make your purchase today!

Order cut-off date ends May 15th / noon CST.

Thank you for loving on WTW.

We appreciate your support, and of course, always your prayers!

Mike and Patti

Such a way of discerning the sovereign power of his gracious compassion leads directly to the resurrection of Jesus. The resurrection of Jesus is the ultimate energizing for the new future. The wrenching of Friday had left only the despair of Saturday (Luke 24:21) and there was no reason to expect Sunday after that Friday. There is not any way to explain the resurrection out of the previously existing reality. The resurrection can only be received and affirmed and celebrated as the new action of God whose province it is to create new futures for people and to let them be amazed in the midst of despair… The resurrection of Jesus is not to be understood in good liberal fashion as a spiritual development in the church. Nor should it be too quickly handled as an oddity in the history of God or as an isolated act of God’s power. Rather, it is the ultimate act of prophetic energizing in which a new history is initiated. It is a new history open to all but peculiarly received by the marginal victims of the old order.

—From The Prophetic Imagination by Walter Brueggemann

“(Resurrection)… it is the ultimate act of prophetic energizing in which a new history is initiated.”

This isn’t a conversation about election. This is pointing to the fact we’ve all been graciously invited to partake of the new covenant… the new kingdom… a kingdom humming in existence NOW! But there is something we have to grasp in the depths of our hearts… new means “new” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)! The old order did its job—it helped create our thirsty need for grace! The table is now lavishly set. All we have to do is receive and partake. That’s activates the bubbling fountain of the Spirit within us! (John 4:14) —MDP

LOVE WINS… EVEN WHEN IT DOESN’T FEEL LIKE IT.

In her Dialogues, St. Catherine of Siena pictures the spiritual life as a large tree:

> The Trunk of the tree is love.

> The core of the tree, that middle part that must be alive for the rest of the tree to be alive is patience.

> The roots of the tree are self-knowledge.

> The many branches, reaching out into the air, are discernment.

>In other words, says Catherine, love does not happen without patience, self-knowledge, and discernment.

Today we have little encouragement toward honest self-knowledge or training in spiritual discernment from our churches. We prefer the seeming clarity of [duality] black-and-white laws. By nature, most of us are not very patient. All of which means that love is not going to be very common. We need St. Catherine’s tree again.

+Adapted from Radical Grace Meditations, pp. 184-185

This is really something to ponder. Eugene Peterson’s translation of 1 Corinthians 13 is so blatantly obvious and insightful to the current condition of not only our world, but the Church (the Bride of Christ) itself. WHEN did it become fashionable and quite normal [yawn] for the Church to be so agitated with hate, unabashed bias, comfortably divided, pridefully exclusive, and unashamedly at ease with groping for social and political prominence? Did Palm Sunday teach us nothing? “So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love” (1 Cor. 13:3). WHEN did this not apply to us anymore? —MDP

“If you cringe at your former self, that’s good—it means you’ve grown.

Never stop cringing.”  MARK MANSON

LIVE YOUR LOVE… THE WORLD NEEDS IT!

You will find the living God in the pages of the Bible. You will find [God] also just exactly where you are. When Jesus knew that he would not have much longer with his disciples he knew that they were sad at heart and he said to them: “It is for your own good that I am going because unless I go, the advocate will not come to you; but if I do go, I will send [the Spirit] to you… I still have many things to say to you, but they would be too much for you now. But when the Spirit of truth comes [the Spirit] will lead you to the complete truth.” (John 16:7, 12, 13) Jesus does not break his promise. God has sent the Spirit of truth, [the Spirit] dwells in your heart. You have only to listen, to follow, and [the Spirit] will lead you to the complete truth. [The Spirit] lead you through all the events, all the circumstances of your life. Nothing in your life is so insignificant, so small, that God cannot be found at its [center]. We think of God in the dramatic things, the glorious sunsets, the majestic mountains, the tempestuous seas: but [God] is the little things too, and the small of a passer-by or the gnarled hands of an old man, in a daisy, a tiny insect, following leaves. God is in the music, and laughter and sorrow too. And the grey times, when monotony stretches out ahead, and these community time to steady, solid growth into God.

God may make the [divine Self] known to you through the life of someone who, for you, is an ambassador for God, in whom you can see the beauty and truth and the love of God; anyone from St. Paul and the apostles through all the centuries to the present day, the great assembly of the saints and lovers of God. It may be that there is someone who loves you so deeply that you dare to believe that you are worth loving and so you can believe that God’s love for you could be possible after all. Sometimes it is though tragedy or serious illness that God speaks to our heart and we know [the Presence] for the first time. There is no limit to the ways in which God may make [the Presence] known. At every turn in our lives there can be a meeting place with God. How our heart should sing with joy and Thanksgiving! We have only to want [God] now in this moment—and at any moment in our lives—and [the Presence] is there, wanting us, longing to welcome us, to forgive us all that has gone before that has separated us from [being present to the Presence]. “If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23) God makes [a] home in you. They are not empty words. It is true. “Make your home in me, as I make mine in you.” This is prayer. Isn’t this the answer to all our yearning, our searching, our anguish, to all the longing, the incompleteness of our lives and of our loving? Until we dwell in [God] and allow [God] to dwell in us we shall be strangers to peace.

—From Prayer by Mother Francis Dominica

Every year in the very beginning of my annual pilgrimage back into familiar Advent readings, these words from Mother Francis Dominica appear like a silky apparition from the murky depths of contemplative gold. A quick search online reveals that Mother Dominica is a specialist in hospice care. That in-and-of-itself must somewhat explain her insights into the ministering wings of Presence. I’ve read this piece several times this week already. I thought I had posted this before, but if I did, I can’t find where or when I did. So, I’m posting it anyway. I think it will be a blessing to us if we can remain still long enough to feel “the peace” in Mother Dominica’s words. It’s a great kickoff for the Advent season!

Love and blessings to you all!

Mike

LOVE LARGE!  It matters.