The Tao of Abba consists of edited sections of my book Abba’s Way. The entries have been radically condensed, with a view to making each entry a concise proposition which will be of use in fathoming the richness of the texts we have been given and their application to our understanding as we move more and more into an era in which formal religions recede and individual spirituality becomes more and more the choice of millions. I will post the entries to this page as they appear on this blog, along with their permalinks where it will be possible to comment.
Not chance but will is Abba’s way
The will of Abba and our own
Creative will to do to be
Courageous will to change to see
To have an eye for hidden shoals
To give the day to giving goals
To move beyond necessity
And rise above passivity
The dice are for the deadly game of chance
The will says take a chance on Abba’s dance
There is no blood that specifies degree
The lines were ended on the wooden cross
The truth is there for all with eyes to see
When lines are placed the whole world suffers loss
The human race is one Abba’s in all,
Abba went to the ovens in each one
Abba rejoices when rank hatreds fall
You kill Abba when you kill anyone
If suffering is needed to prevail
Against the haters and the insecure
Then we shall stand for truth or else we fail
And live ‘mid lies of races high and pure
False messiahs break down weaker selves
The weak seek out the strong then weaken more
They hear the very dreams they know too well
Salvation’s near it warms them to the core
The next step isolation break them down
Coerce them with group-think if they protest
Then smother them with false love till they’re bound
As powerless as newborns in their nest
Thus false religion’s ultimate extreme
This promise of redemption is all lies
Controlling you is your cult leader’s dream
They do not mourn if your frail freedom dies
False messiahs feed on battered souls
They practice hellish rituals of death
You give your yes to their seductive goals
And even pledge to them your final breath
Should you meet gurus seeking weakened souls
Know that incursion is their stock in trade
Resist in Abba’s name avoid their rolls
Take Abba in stand free your debts are paid
The weight of guilt that made you weak inside
Is lifted and new freedom grows within
The door to a free future opens wide
You’ll solve your own life freely now begin
Abba in every passing face
Abba in every seeing eye
Abba in every questing heart
Abba alive in every breath
Abba in life Abba in death
Abba in pledge Abba in deed
More more of Abba every day
More more of Abba every place
Abba within is within everyone
Accept and wait
The truth is known
Not with displays mass shouts or festivals
Accept and move on beyond lonesomeness
The realm of Abba is at hand
Abba within is within everyone
How long must you know Abba is within,
Before the light of it is seen
Some days it will be high and bright
Some days it shows but at low light
Abba holds you in deepest love
When you see not
Abba is deep in you
Take your stand
Step out
Reach out
Stretch out your hand
Abba within is within everyone
Abba whose home in heaven is
Hallowed and holy is your name
Let your realm come your will be done
‘Till earth and heaven are the same
Give us this day our daily bread
Forgive the wrongs that we have done
As we forgive those who do wrong
Lead us not into temptation
Deliver us from evil Lord
And guide us safely to your shore
Yours is the power to heal and mend
Yours is the glory evermore
The age of apostates is over now
Religion’s age was the apostate one
Religion’s over to no idols bow
Apostasy is over gone and done
Religion dies and Abba lives anew
Within each person waiting for a prayer
Seek ask and knock is all one needs to do
A gift a grace a promise not a dare
When one doffs all but Abba’s simple sway
The very word apostate fades away
If Abba is the one transcendent truth
The One above whom nothing may be placed
All worshiping of idols is uncouth
And Abba’s image in us is defaced
If we lose Abba’s voice within the flame
It says I’m who I am I’m who I’ll be
We lose the mystery beyond all names
And fall again into idolatry
If we but cleave to Abba heart and soul
The simple way of Abba can prevail
We will not claim to know more than we know
And idols will be seen as ways that fail
There is a light within a spark of life
It’s Abba’s presence and our divine seal
A light that moves us beyond hate and strife
Embracing virtue making virtue real
Our best virtue is claiming none at all
Regardless if our deeds be large or small
We do not know the end of what we do
Or uses others put our efforts to
An unassuming goodness sensitive
To all the vagaries of charity
An unassuming goodness that can give
Without demanding all stand up and see
If we placed children first instead of wars
If we placed children first instead of wealth
If we placed children first instead of cars
Then we would value the sole source of health
Neglected children may as adults fall
Unless in Abba’s love they can abide
Stop look within attend to Abba’s call
Abba within you always deep inside
In any instant everything can change
A wounded child can make a saving choice
A light within at first far off and strange
Can soon become a saving tender voice
Be brave be bold seize Abba when you can
No help is needed other than your own
There is no child who can’t hold Abba’s hand
There is no child who needs to walk alone
The weather is engulfed in mystery
So too our breathing cells our nerve endings
Our time our space our frail philosophy
We are awash in partial renderings
We do not know why life starts then is done
Or why some bodies last and others fail
Tsunamis cyclones fires their courses run
But final reasons lie beyond the pale
We cannot prove existence beyond proof
But we can know Abba with one small breath
And if we see our lives as Abba’s school
We face things better even sin and death
What’s worse a lethal storm or human hate
Say neither accept both but not as fate
Life is the sum of all we co-create
Wrapped in the mystery we celebrate
To have Abba at hand is mindfulness
To have Abba always is to work through
We are not here to strive for saintliness
To look within with mindfulness will do
Bliss is the state of deepest happiness
To be blissful is to be free
Your only blissful impulse is to bless
This is called living consciously
Bliss overcomes enigmas and regrets
Bliss is a beacon past all pain
Bliss overcomes all sins and debts
This is reality made plain
How can so many things be claimed for bliss
Nothing is claimed save saving grace
It is salvation’s genesis
This is the ultimate embrace
Brother Daniel said,
April 20, 2009 at 6:43 am
Hi Stephen
I like your revelation of Abba as within all since we are all children of God. I agree that we only need to wake up to this reality, that we are simply not “realizing” who we really are, who Abba is. Whenever I name Abba I always say that it was Jesus who taught us to call the Creator Abba – literally Dadda in Armaic, or sometimes I just say literally Dadda in Aramaic, because I don’t find that our culture or any culture grasps Abba at first glance. Also, I find your criticism of gurus to be informed by a certain cultural superiority which misses the fact that Jesus was a teacher (Rabbi), and that when his disciples graduated he told them to go make disciples of all nations, in other words they were now teachers making disciples. Since our church is a worldy institution that has forgotten what true discipleship is, we easily criticize other faiths in which they still actually have teacher/disciple relationships. Of course sometimes people miss the point when they divinize a teacher, or believe they cannot find Abba without a teacher, but the human reality in which Jesus participated is one in which we learn from others, are inspired, mentored and supported by others; God still does anoint and send apostles, prophets, evangelists, healers and teachers today: these ones who are sent, who have been matured in the spirit will naturally attract disciples, and if they undestand the teacher/disciple relationship will like Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:1 say to their disciples “Imitate me as I imitate Christ.” Just something to think on!
If Abba is the one transcendent truth « Stephen C. Rose said,
April 23, 2009 at 6:59 am
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