#divine service

[darlingpianoo]

when cupii post i when OC post wowwwwiee

uhh but yeah my beautiful angel isnt she lovely💔

[infinitelovelight111]

What is manifestation, really?

Creation. We all wonder how it happened, and why. We all wonder why we are here and who we are. 

All people have a different idea of God and faith. All people have views that seem to be opposing, but they really are all different versions of the same thing: I AM. 

We are all one. There is only one being in the entire cosmos: I AM. We are all a part of this cosmic I AM, and it makes up each of our bodies, minds, and spirits; and that includes all plants, animals, minerals, planets, and space! It also includes atoms and waves of energy, and the space between. I AM, is everything. 

When we learn this information, there is a part of us that wants to turn it into mind food. We try to understand it and think about it, and even turn it into a goal to achieve. “I want to be I AM, I want to be everything.” 

Manifestation is one such line of thought. It says “become this and you will have everything you want!” But, there is a problem with that: you are ALREADY everything, and that includes everything you want!

But, that doesn’t help, does it? “Oh, you already are it!” Okay, so what does that mean? How does it apply to the real world?

Love is all there is. Everything you want, is One love. When you want something, that desire is born from love. This love resides in your heart and mind, waiting to be made manifest in your reality. When you express love, your desires are brought to you because they, too, are love. 

For example, say you really want a specific feature of your face or body to change. This desire is coming from a deeper desire: to love yourself. You think that the feature changing will make you love yourself. But, love comes from INSIDE of you, not from external things.

“Okay, so I have to love more. But how does that bring me my desires?”

Love is the absence of fear. When you love something unconditionally, that thing is transformed into the best version of itself. That is why love is so powerful! When you love something, you are seeing the purest version of it. So, love brings you what you desire, because you desire the very best version of things!

Manifestation is nothing more than seeing the world as it really is. This world IS love, it is ALREADY perfect.

You have to see the perfection in the world, to make that perfection real to you <3

[wearethekat]

July Book Reviews: Divine Service by Johannes T Evans

I enjoyed Evans' Heart of Stone, so I was interested to try more of his work. In Divine Service, young Theodore learns that his father was a god and quietly ascends to divinity, but lacks a purpose to give him direction. A chance encounter with Godfrey, who is under brutal pressure by his aristocratic family to accede to miserable marriage, sends him in a new direction.

I am a habitual novella hater (somehow they're always too short or too long), but I think Divine Service hit the mark exactly. It's a gentle, thoughtful musing on purpose and responsibility that suits its shorter page count. The majority of the story is focused on half-god Theodore as he discovers who he is in a fantasy world setting. However, Godfrey and his troubles come into play in the second half of the book. He's only explicitly described as not being attracted to young women, but his desperation to avoid marriage reads as heavily aro or aroace coded, which I enjoyed.

A quietly thoughtful novella a bit in the line of Bujold's Chalion books. Recommended.

[franciscrozierofficial]

ATTENTION, SAILORS.

This is your CAPTAIN speaking.

You may have seen a recent, fraudulent announcement from a high ranking officer that you must attend a divine service upon fear of hanging.

This is not the case.

The officer in question forgets that a full court martial and/or fair trial must be held before undue punishment is given— and punishment shall not be given for frivolities.

….Attendance of Mr. Fitzjeames’ divine service is encouraged and that is all.

It shall be a way to give respect and honor to our fallen numbers, as well as an opportunity to remember we are not each other’s enemies… We are all here to survive.

I will speak as such at the divine service. I hope to see each and every one of you there, @terror-crew and @erebus-crew, but if you are not, I will not begrudge you your life.

SAILORS DISMISSED.

[ltwilliammowett]

Sunday morning Divine Service on board The Caesar, in the Baltic Fleet, by John Wilson Carmichael, 1855                                   

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

"I longed to be a flame of fire continually glowing in the divine service and building up of Christ's kingdom to my last and dying breath." - David Brainerd

[prolifeproliberty]

An explanation of Lutheran liturgy (link to screen-reader-friendly plain text)

Congregational practice may vary. Our church uses The Lutheran Hymnal from 1941 that has some differences in the canticles we use.

[rebbestorah]

In Praise of Noach

The Torah portion Noach begins with the words: “These are the children of Noach. Noach was a righteous individual….” But only in the second verse does the Torah mention his three children, Shem, Cham and Yafes.

Rashi explains this seeming incongruity by noting that the phrase “Noach was a righteous individual….” is a parenthetical statement inserted in the first verse — “Since he [Noach] is mentioned, his praises are extolled, for it is written, ‘the mention of a righteous individual should be accompanied by his praise.’ ”

This, however, gives rise to the following question: Noach’s name was already mentioned in Bereishis;  seemingly, it is there that his name should have been accompanied by praise. Why does the Torah refrain from praising him until the portion Noach?

Additionally, what is the reason for and the benefit of lauding the virtues of a righteous individual?

The Gemara informs us that Lashon Hara, slander, harms not only the teller and the listener, but the person being talked about as well.

Now it is quite understandable that spiritual harm befalls both the speaker and the hearer of slander, for both are engaged in an act which our Sages liken to the combined sins of idolatry, incestuous relationships and murder. But why is the object of the slander spiritually affected? Why should he suffer when he had no part in this sin?

Consider. Speech reveals that which was previously concealed as thought. Speaking of another’s evil may thus have a detrimental effect on the slandered person; if the person’s evil had not been spoken about, it might have remained “concealed” and not come to realization.

The reason this is so is that man’s every action — especially speech, whose purpose is to reveal the concealed — has an effect. This may be felt either in a physical sense or on a spiritual plane, where the damage is perceived with higher and more refined senses.

Thus it is related that a person was once quarreling with another in the Baal Shem Tov’s shul. In the heat of the moment, one of the disputants shouted that he would tear the other to pieces. The Baal Shem Tov revealed to his disciples how this act of dismemberment actually took place on a spiritual plane.

Yet “a good attribute is far more efficacious than a harmful one.” If speaking of another’s evil has a detrimental effect, then surely speaking of another’s good qualities has a salutary effect on the person being spoken of; he is more likely to realize his goodly potential and qualities.

If this is so with regard to praise by human beings, how much more so with regard to G-d’s praise of an individual, especially when this praise is included in the Torah itself!

This is why “the mention of a righteous individual should be accompanied by his praise”; by praising a person, one is actually assisting him in his righteous behavior.

The reason why Noach is first praised in the portion Noach rather than in Bereishiswill be understood accordingly:

While it is true that Noach’s name is mentioned earlier, it is specifically in the portion Noach that the Torah speaks of Noach with regard to the good deeds and spiritual service he attained on his own, as opposed to that with which he was favored from Above.

Since the reason for praising a righteous individual is to assist him in his divine service, and since Noach’s service begins in the Torah portion Noach,  it follows that it is here that his name be “accompanied by his praise.”

The lesson to be derived in terms of our own service is obvious: A Jew should do his utmost to perceive the goodness of his fellow, and speak of his good traits and qualities. By doing so, he assists in revealing the goodness of the other, and at the same time helps the other in his spiritual passage through life.

Based on Likkutei Sichos , Vol. V, pp. 36-46.