What Does it Mean to Backslide?
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Within the straight and gay communities there are people who practice BDSM (Bondage, Discipline or Domination, Sadism and Masochism. This is a form of role play involving “slaves” and “masters”. I have no intention of either defending or endorsing, or condemning the practice. However there are principles within these activities, which are applicable to our…
We have made it through Easter, encountered the risen Christ and are moving from there. The next two events are Ascension Thursday (or Ascension Sunday if the church doesn’t have Thursday services) and the ten days later is Pentecost which then leads to the beginning of Ordinary Times, which lasts to the beginning of Advent…
Dear family As I believe most of you know I am a monk and a member of a monastic community called “The Community of Solitude”. So what is solitude? It is my belief that the whole universal church is called to spend periods of time in solitude seeking God and yet for me and other…
Dear family, Find enclosed my latest poem. Hope you all enjoy and comments are always welcomed Brother Lawrence Damien Cos The Power of God By Brother Lawrence Damien Cos I have been broken but not forsaken, Knocked down but not kept down I’ve felt pain but that was gain For the power of God is…
by Brother Lawrence Damien CoS Dear Family, In a week we will celebrate Ash Wednesday and many of us will be going to church to get our foreheads marked with the sign of the cross from ashes made from burning last year’s Palm Branches that were used and blessed on Palm Sunday. So why will…
Dear family Continuing on Lenten journey today I am reflecting on the Book of Revelation and what it may mean for those of us now in the age of Coronavirus. In my evangelical days I saw the Book of Revelation as pointing to the last days just prior to the return of Christ to this…
As I was meditating on the messages of this past weekend specifically the message of Pastor John on Saturday morning and Pastor Cavalain’s on Friday night and Saturday morning I began to feel God speaking to me what I believe may be the next step in fulfillment of the vision of the tapestry given to…
What is Shrove Tuesday (aka Fat Tuesday)? By Brother Lawrence Damien Cos A week from today many will be gathering in their churches to eat pancakes and celebrate Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday. It marks the end of Ordinary times or Epiphany depending on your tradition and getting ready for Ash Wednesday and the beginning…
How many roads can a gay man walk down Before they will call him a man? How many times must a gay man cry out Before his voice can be heard? And how many gays must take their lives Until we know to many have died? The answer my friend lies with you and me…
After our recent meeting a friend of mine and I had a discussion on hell and whether or not it was a place of eternal suffering without end. Many of our Evangelical brothers would believe that it is a place of eternal suffering. However other Christians would say that all who are cast into hell…
Session 1 Length of Time: 30 Opening Prayer Hindu Peace Prayer I desire neither earthly kingdom, nor paradise; not even freedom from birth and death. I desire only the deliverance from grief of those afflicted by misery.
When it comes to eunuchs many of us have been taught that it refers to a castrated male i.e. one who has had his testicles cut off. However I believe, scripturally speaking, that is only one of the definitions for a eunuch. The scriptures give three different types of eunuchs, as taught by Jesus. “For…
In our world today we see war and violence everywhere it seems. From the fight of Ukraine for independence, Israel and Hamas fighting in Gaza. to violence in our schools and cities, it seems inescapable and impossible to get away from violence. Listen to the news and we are confronted with it. Many would claim…
Dear Family, This past May I celebrated my 71st birthday and in October I will celebrate 53 years in ministry which is cool. So what have I learned in all that time? Am I smarter now than I was then? Actually no. I have gotten dumber in one respect. In my teens and early 20’s…
During the season of Lent many churches do what are called the Stations of the Cross. These are fourteen stations, which re-enact the last moments of Jesus life here on earth from His condemnation before Pilate through His body being laid in the tomb. We get to walk with Christ along the same path He…
What is Chrism Mass By Brother Lawrence Damien Cos Dear Family, We are approaching Holy Week. At some point during Holy Week the priests, bishops and the faithful will gather for a Chrism Mass. This mass has two purposes. First it is the time for the blessing of the oils which will be used in…
Sixteen years ago at Thanksgiving 2002 I began a journey that would ultimately take me from the Evangelicalism of my younger years to my becoming a Catholic in 2008 which I still am. During that time as a man dedicated to following the “Word” and Jesus I have had a problem and wrestled over seemingly…
By Brother Lawrence Damien Cos Muiscas Ceremony for Connectedness “When I consider your heavens the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them] 5 You have made them a little lower…
by Brother Lawrence Damien Cos “Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why then are they baptized for the dead?” Dear CG family Enclosed find my latest article on Baptism for the Dead. It stems from a discussion we had in Sunday school…
Dear Family, As we celebrate Palm Sunday I would like us to consider where we stand concerning Jesus. In today’s readings taken from Mark 14:1-15:47. It starts off with the religious leaders trying to figure out how they can arrest Jesus without starting a riot. They can’t find any legitimate way to take him so…
Dear Friends and Family Enclosed find a pastoral letter on the immigration policy of President Trump that was issued to my church, and in which I stand 100% behind in solidarity with my bishops as well as with immigrants. It is shared here in the hopes some will endorse and embrace what is shared here…
A look at what the Bible says about homosexuality as discovered by a conservative Evangelical Charismatic Gay Christian pastor Preface As a gay Christian for many years I have struggled with the issues of the Bible and homosexuality. I have tried to reconcile what I was taught, what I thought I understood the Bible to…
Today we celebrate Good Friday, the day on which our Lord, Savior, and Master was crucified and buried. What is the significance of this day? Some may see it as a sad time and see no reason to call it good. Others may say that Christ couldn’t have died on Friday as that would be…
Dear family. In a few months, in June, those in the LGBTQ community will be celebrating Pride month, and our pride in who we are. Many from within the LGBTQ culture, as well as straight Christians, look to their faith for answers on what this all means, whether one can be gay or LGBTQ and…
What is Lazarus Saturday? By Brother Lawrence Damien Cos Dear family In about a week we will be celebrating Holy Week and for most of us here in the West that will begin on Palm Sunday marking the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. However within the Orthodox Churches Holy Week starts a day earlier…
As we begin this story in I Samuel 3 we find Samuel ministering under Eli. He was given to the Lord by his mother Hannah and has been livingwith Eli learning to be a priest. However, it did not teach one tohear the voice of the Lord and recognize it,…
What is Good Friday All About? By Brother Lawrence Damien Dear Family Today is Good Friday so what is it and why do we celebrate it? This is day that Christians throughout the world commemorate the crucifixion of Christ. Church services recall the account of Jesus death given in Christian scriptures especially…
Dear family Here is my next chapter. Hope you are enjoying this and comments welcomed. Brother Lawrence Damien Cos Down The Mountain To The Valley To Confront Life (Chapter 2) In our last chapter we were on the Mount of Transfiguration with Moses, Elijah, Jesus and God. What an experience that must have been….
Dear family In the last few months during the having to be shut in due to the Coronavirus I have had a lot of time for reflection and contemplation on various aspects of my life and how well I may be doing in seeking to be more like Christ and fulfilling the ministry he has…
Brother Lawrence Damien Cos (Community of Solitude) was born in Maine in 1948, started teaching/preaching in 1966, and was ordained to the ministry in 1970. I was raised in the Congregational faith and later became Church of Christ, then Pentecostal, then Episcopal then Independent Catholic. which I still am today. I was educated at Melodyland…