URGENCY for the well-being of the earth is born in the heart of God. The divine desire moves through the world, seeking to make all creatures radiant with goodness and alive with righteousness. True prayer includes every desire of our own that helps align us with this loving movement of the Spirit. Once we realize this, we’re very close to prayer “without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17).
- Robert Corin Morris
Wrestling with Grace: A Spirituality for the Rough Edges of Daily Life
From p. 203 of Wrestling with Grace: A Spirituality for the Rough Edges of Daily Life by Robert Corin Morris. Copyright © 2003 by the author
via Upper Room website
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
The following is from this website of Thom M. Shuman
...http://prayersfortoday.blogspot.com/
book mark it !
crumbs . . .
that's what we think
you have given us,
O God,
when we look around
and see all that someone else has
and we don't.
but our covetousness crumbles
when we think of the broken bread
that has made us whole,
when we drink from the cup of hope
which is never empty,
when we stand at the foot of the cross,
which has emptied us of our sin.
so richly blessed . . .
why then are we only willing
to offer crumbs
to those who come to us
searching for you?
Amen.
(c) 2005 Thom M. Shuman
...http://prayersfortoday.blogspot.com/
book mark it !
crumbs . . .
that's what we think
you have given us,
O God,
when we look around
and see all that someone else has
and we don't.
but our covetousness crumbles
when we think of the broken bread
that has made us whole,
when we drink from the cup of hope
which is never empty,
when we stand at the foot of the cross,
which has emptied us of our sin.
so richly blessed . . .
why then are we only willing
to offer crumbs
to those who come to us
searching for you?
Amen.
(c) 2005 Thom M. Shuman
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Autumn is slipping through summer's branches
and I am listening.
I am listening to the dying
flowing forth from autumn's being.
I am listening to the life
hidden in the dying.
I am listening.
I am listening to the trees taking off their lush green garments.
I am listening to the leaves turning, turning, ever turning.
I am listening to the burning bush of autumn.
I am listening to the falling of this season.
I am listening.
I am listening to the song of transformation,
to the wisdom of the season,
to the losses and the grieving,
to the turning loose and letting go.
I am listening to the surrender of autumn.
I am listening.
I am listening to the music of the forest's undergrowth,
to the crunch of leaves beneath my feet,
to the miracle of crumbling leaves becoming earth again.
I am listening to the beauty and fragility of aging.
I am listening.
I am listening to the wheel of the year turning
to the cycle of the seasons,
to the call for harmony and balance.
I am listening to the circle of life.
I am listening.
I am listening to days growing shorter,
to the air turning crisp and cool,
to the slow waning of the light,
to the stars that shine in cold, dark nights.
I am listening to the growing harvest moon.
I am listening.
I am listening to happy harvest cries,
to hearts overflowing with thanksgiving,
to tables laden with gifts from the earth,
to baskedts overflowing with fruit,
I am listening to the bountiful gift of autumn.
I am listening.
I am listening to a call for inner growth,
to my need to let go of material possessions,
to my need to reach out for invisible gifts.
I am listening to a call for transformation.
I am listening.
I am listening to the death of old ways.
I am listening to the life force turning inward.
I am listening to the renewal of the earth.
I am listening.
I am listening to summer
Handing over autumn
I am listening to the poetry of autumn.
I am listening.
~Macrina Wiederkehr
and I am listening.
I am listening to the dying
flowing forth from autumn's being.
I am listening to the life
hidden in the dying.
I am listening.
I am listening to the trees taking off their lush green garments.
I am listening to the leaves turning, turning, ever turning.
I am listening to the burning bush of autumn.
I am listening to the falling of this season.
I am listening.
I am listening to the song of transformation,
to the wisdom of the season,
to the losses and the grieving,
to the turning loose and letting go.
I am listening to the surrender of autumn.
I am listening.
I am listening to the music of the forest's undergrowth,
to the crunch of leaves beneath my feet,
to the miracle of crumbling leaves becoming earth again.
I am listening to the beauty and fragility of aging.
I am listening.
I am listening to the wheel of the year turning
to the cycle of the seasons,
to the call for harmony and balance.
I am listening to the circle of life.
I am listening.
I am listening to days growing shorter,
to the air turning crisp and cool,
to the slow waning of the light,
to the stars that shine in cold, dark nights.
I am listening to the growing harvest moon.
I am listening.
I am listening to happy harvest cries,
to hearts overflowing with thanksgiving,
to tables laden with gifts from the earth,
to baskedts overflowing with fruit,
I am listening to the bountiful gift of autumn.
I am listening.
I am listening to a call for inner growth,
to my need to let go of material possessions,
to my need to reach out for invisible gifts.
I am listening to a call for transformation.
I am listening.
I am listening to the death of old ways.
I am listening to the life force turning inward.
I am listening to the renewal of the earth.
I am listening.
I am listening to summer
Handing over autumn
I am listening to the poetry of autumn.
I am listening.
~Macrina Wiederkehr
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
A collection to collect or re-collect my forgotten thoughts
LET ME RISE
~ by Wendell Berry
When I rise up
let me rise up joyful
like a bird
When I fall
let me fall without regret
like a leaf.
(from Prayers and Sayings of the Mad Farmer, Collected Poems
THE FIST
~ by Mary Oliver
There are days
when the sun goes down
like a fist,
though of course
if you see anything
in the heavens
in this way
you had better get
your eyes checked
or, better still,
your diminished spirit.
The heavens
have no fist,
or wouldn’t they have been
shaking it
for a thousand years now,
and even
longer than that,
at the dull, brutish
ways of mankind—
heaven’s own
creation?
Instead: such patience!
Such willingness
to let us continue!
To hear,
little by little,
the voices—
only, so far, in
pockets of the world—
suggesting
the possibilities
of peace?
Keep looking.
Behold, how the fist opens
with invitation.
(from Thirst, Beacon Press, 2006
Blessings
Blessed are those who are emptied of all that doesn’t matter, those for whom the riches of this world just aren’t that important.
The reign of heaven is theirs.
Blessed are those who wear compassion like a garment.
For they too shall receive comfort.
Blessed are the creators of peace, those who build roads that unite rather than walls that divide, those who bless the world with the healing power of their presence.
For they shall be called the children of God.
Blessed are those whose love has been tried, like gold,
In the furnace and found to be precious, genuine, and lasting, those who have lived their belief out loud, no matter what the cost or pain.
–Macrina Wiederkehr
“If heaven is on earth, it’s hardly contradictory to love sunshine chevroned with tree shadows in the woods, plus the low-slung moss, a tiger-colored butterfly, the Tiffany glitter of a spider’s web after a gust of rain, and the yellow-spotted salamander emerging from under the nearest log—yet feel content to die.”
–from Curtain Calls: The fever called “living” is conquered at last by Edward Hoagland
ONCE A PERSON KNOWS
~ by Baal Shem Tov
It is therefore written: "Hide, I will hide my face."
That is, God will be hidden
so that they do not even know God is there.
But once a person knows God is hidden,
God is not really hidden.
(from The Path of Blessing, by Rabbi Marcia Prager, Jewish Lights, 2003
FEAR NOT THE STRANGENESS
~ by Rainer Maria Rilke
You must give birth to your images.
They are the future to be born.
Fear not the strangeness you feel.
The future must enter you
long before it happens.
Just wait for the birth,
for the hour of new clarity.
(Letters to a Young Poet, Transl. Stephen Mitchell,
New York: Vintage Books, 1986)
WORLDS ARE FORMING
~ by Meister Eckhart
All beings
are words of God,
His music, His
art.
Sacred books we are, for the infinite camps
in our
souls.
Every act reveals God and expands His being.
I know that may be hard
to comprehend.
All creatures are doing their best
to help God in His birth
of Himself.
Enough talk for the night.
He is laboring in me;
I need to be silent
for a while,
worlds are forming
in my heart.
IF YOU LOVE
~ by St. John of the Cross (1542-1591)
You might quiet the whole world for a second
if you pray.
And if you love, if you
really love,
our guns will
wilt.
(from the Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices
from the East and West, translation Daniel Ladinsky
- Penguin Compass, 2002)
PRAYER IS AN EGG
~ by Jalaludin Rumi (1207-1273)
Don't do daily prayers like a bird
pecking, moving its head
up and down. Prayer is an egg.
Hatch out the total helplessness inside.
(translated by Coleman Barks)
these and others can be found at http://www.faithhousemanhattan.org/faith_house
~ by Wendell Berry
When I rise up
let me rise up joyful
like a bird
When I fall
let me fall without regret
like a leaf.
(from Prayers and Sayings of the Mad Farmer, Collected Poems
THE FIST
~ by Mary Oliver
There are days
when the sun goes down
like a fist,
though of course
if you see anything
in the heavens
in this way
you had better get
your eyes checked
or, better still,
your diminished spirit.
The heavens
have no fist,
or wouldn’t they have been
shaking it
for a thousand years now,
and even
longer than that,
at the dull, brutish
ways of mankind—
heaven’s own
creation?
Instead: such patience!
Such willingness
to let us continue!
To hear,
little by little,
the voices—
only, so far, in
pockets of the world—
suggesting
the possibilities
of peace?
Keep looking.
Behold, how the fist opens
with invitation.
(from Thirst, Beacon Press, 2006
Blessings
Blessed are those who are emptied of all that doesn’t matter, those for whom the riches of this world just aren’t that important.
The reign of heaven is theirs.
Blessed are those who wear compassion like a garment.
For they too shall receive comfort.
Blessed are the creators of peace, those who build roads that unite rather than walls that divide, those who bless the world with the healing power of their presence.
For they shall be called the children of God.
Blessed are those whose love has been tried, like gold,
In the furnace and found to be precious, genuine, and lasting, those who have lived their belief out loud, no matter what the cost or pain.
–Macrina Wiederkehr
“If heaven is on earth, it’s hardly contradictory to love sunshine chevroned with tree shadows in the woods, plus the low-slung moss, a tiger-colored butterfly, the Tiffany glitter of a spider’s web after a gust of rain, and the yellow-spotted salamander emerging from under the nearest log—yet feel content to die.”
–from Curtain Calls: The fever called “living” is conquered at last by Edward Hoagland
ONCE A PERSON KNOWS
~ by Baal Shem Tov
It is therefore written: "Hide, I will hide my face."
That is, God will be hidden
so that they do not even know God is there.
But once a person knows God is hidden,
God is not really hidden.
(from The Path of Blessing, by Rabbi Marcia Prager, Jewish Lights, 2003
FEAR NOT THE STRANGENESS
~ by Rainer Maria Rilke
You must give birth to your images.
They are the future to be born.
Fear not the strangeness you feel.
The future must enter you
long before it happens.
Just wait for the birth,
for the hour of new clarity.
(Letters to a Young Poet, Transl. Stephen Mitchell,
New York: Vintage Books, 1986)
WORLDS ARE FORMING
~ by Meister Eckhart
All beings
are words of God,
His music, His
art.
Sacred books we are, for the infinite camps
in our
souls.
Every act reveals God and expands His being.
I know that may be hard
to comprehend.
All creatures are doing their best
to help God in His birth
of Himself.
Enough talk for the night.
He is laboring in me;
I need to be silent
for a while,
worlds are forming
in my heart.
IF YOU LOVE
~ by St. John of the Cross (1542-1591)
You might quiet the whole world for a second
if you pray.
And if you love, if you
really love,
our guns will
wilt.
(from the Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices
from the East and West, translation Daniel Ladinsky
- Penguin Compass, 2002)
PRAYER IS AN EGG
~ by Jalaludin Rumi (1207-1273)
Don't do daily prayers like a bird
pecking, moving its head
up and down. Prayer is an egg.
Hatch out the total helplessness inside.
(translated by Coleman Barks)
these and others can be found at http://www.faithhousemanhattan.org/faith_house
Advent, this Sunday
THIS SUNDAY, we celebrate the beginning of Advent, and pray that it may be a season of peace. We hover on the edge of our expectation — let the season of Advent begin. Let us prepare and relish our celebrations with the joy of God’s love in our hearts. We rejoice in our traditions, that they might renew our bonds of fellowship with family, friends, and church members. Let us consider what true gifts we might offer to each other and God. Help us to know when it is our faith, patience, kind words, listening ear, or time that would be needed and appreciated. Most of all, let us anticipate the arrival of the Christ child. We make a place in our hearts and homes. Let us look ahead to the coming weeks of the Advent season with joy in our hearts and our steps. We will live each day in the light of Emmanuel, as we follow the path of peace.
Alive Now
From Alive Now, November/December 2004. Copyright © 2004 by The Upper Room.
via Upper room website
Alive Now
From Alive Now, November/December 2004. Copyright © 2004 by The Upper Room.
via Upper room website
Monday, November 23, 2009
For bare trees ...
THE SACRAMENT OF WAITING
~ Macrina Wiederkehr
Slowly
she celebrated the sacrament of letting go.
First she surrendered her green,
then the orange, yellow, and red
finally she let go of her brown.
Shedding her last leaf
she stood empty and silent, stripped bare.
Leaning against the winter sky
she began her vigil of trust.
Shedding her last leaf
she watched its journey to the ground.
She stood in silence
wearing the color of emptiness,
her branches wondering;
How do you give shade with so much gone?
And then,
the sacrament of waiting began.
The sunrise and sunset watched with tenderness.
Clothing her with silhouettes
they kept her hope alive.
They helped her understand that
her vulnerability,
her dependence and need,
her emptiness,
her readiness to receive
were giving her a new kind of beauty.
Every morning and every evening they stood in silence
and celebrated together
the sacrament of waiting.
(source: www.inwardoutward.org
~ Macrina Wiederkehr
Slowly
she celebrated the sacrament of letting go.
First she surrendered her green,
then the orange, yellow, and red
finally she let go of her brown.
Shedding her last leaf
she stood empty and silent, stripped bare.
Leaning against the winter sky
she began her vigil of trust.
Shedding her last leaf
she watched its journey to the ground.
She stood in silence
wearing the color of emptiness,
her branches wondering;
How do you give shade with so much gone?
And then,
the sacrament of waiting began.
The sunrise and sunset watched with tenderness.
Clothing her with silhouettes
they kept her hope alive.
They helped her understand that
her vulnerability,
her dependence and need,
her emptiness,
her readiness to receive
were giving her a new kind of beauty.
Every morning and every evening they stood in silence
and celebrated together
the sacrament of waiting.
(source: www.inwardoutward.org
Action and spiritual formation
You become what you do. We are shaped from the outside in ... So we do the Works of Mercy, we bend and we kneel, even when our head is clouded and our spirit is grudging. We cross ourselves even as our faith fails. We light candles and sing "O Radiant Light, O Sun Divine," even when the world seems dark.
- Mary Margaret Nussbaum, from her essay "Hope Is Our Means"
via Sojourners; Verse and Voice
- Mary Margaret Nussbaum, from her essay "Hope Is Our Means"
via Sojourners; Verse and Voice
Friday, November 20, 2009
These quotes are included in Journeying Through the Days 2009
(UPPER ROOM)
When the fountain of Love dries up, society disintegrates and all things lose balance.
Eternal Love, pour forth! Thou within me, well up! The spring of Love flows only within the spirit. God is perennially the Indwelling One, Eternal Love.
Toyohiko Kagawa
The longer we journey on the road to unity, the more the sense of belonging grows and deepens. The sense is not just of belonging to community. It is a sense of belonging to the universe, to the earth, to the air, to the water, to everything that lives, to all humanity.
Jean Vanier
God is always coming because[God] is life, and life has the unbridled force of creation.
God comes because [God] is light, and light may not remain hidden.
God comes because [God] is love, and love needs to give of itself. God has always been coming. God is always coming.
Carlo Carretto
(UPPER ROOM)
When the fountain of Love dries up, society disintegrates and all things lose balance.
Eternal Love, pour forth! Thou within me, well up! The spring of Love flows only within the spirit. God is perennially the Indwelling One, Eternal Love.
Toyohiko Kagawa
The longer we journey on the road to unity, the more the sense of belonging grows and deepens. The sense is not just of belonging to community. It is a sense of belonging to the universe, to the earth, to the air, to the water, to everything that lives, to all humanity.
Jean Vanier
God is always coming because[God] is life, and life has the unbridled force of creation.
God comes because [God] is light, and light may not remain hidden.
God comes because [God] is love, and love needs to give of itself. God has always been coming. God is always coming.
Carlo Carretto
Thursday, November 19, 2009
WE ARE … praying all the time without realizing it. There’s a constant stream of hungers and needs, gripes and groans, desires and dreams that well up from the mysterious depths of soul and body, reaching out to connect with the life within us and around us. This semiconscious asking may not be addressed to God, but it is prayer nonetheless, deeper than and prior to any belief system.
- Robert Corin Morris
Wrestling with Grace: A Spirituality for the Rough Edges of Daily Life
From p. 203 of Wrestling with Grace: A Spirituality for the Rough Edges of Daily Life by Robert Corin Morris. Copyright © 2003 by the author. All Rights Reserved
via Upper Room
- Robert Corin Morris
Wrestling with Grace: A Spirituality for the Rough Edges of Daily Life
From p. 203 of Wrestling with Grace: A Spirituality for the Rough Edges of Daily Life by Robert Corin Morris. Copyright © 2003 by the author. All Rights Reserved
via Upper Room
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
From Henri Nouwen
Embracing the Universe
Living a spiritual life makes our little, fearful hearts as wide as the universe, because the Spirit of Jesus dwelling within us embraces the whole of creation. Jesus is the Word, through whom the universe has been created. As Paul says: "In him were created all things in heaven and on earth: everything visible and everything invisible - all things were created through him and for him - in him all things hold together" (Collosians 1:16-17). Therefore when Jesus lives within us through his Spirit, our hearts embrace not only all people but all of creation. Love casts out all fear and gathers in all that belongs to God.
Prayer, which is breathing with the Spirit of Jesus, leads us to this immense knowledge.
Living a spiritual life makes our little, fearful hearts as wide as the universe, because the Spirit of Jesus dwelling within us embraces the whole of creation. Jesus is the Word, through whom the universe has been created. As Paul says: "In him were created all things in heaven and on earth: everything visible and everything invisible - all things were created through him and for him - in him all things hold together" (Collosians 1:16-17). Therefore when Jesus lives within us through his Spirit, our hearts embrace not only all people but all of creation. Love casts out all fear and gathers in all that belongs to God.
Prayer, which is breathing with the Spirit of Jesus, leads us to this immense knowledge.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Guest House
THE GUEST HOUSE
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
-RUMI -
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
-RUMI -
Sunday, November 15, 2009
LOVE IS THE CAPACITY TO SEE both the good and evil in people but to love the good; to see both the excellent and mediocre but to encourage the excellent; to see the wellness and the sickness and to strengthen the wellness. Before all else, love is the capacity to see everyone and everything as interconnected, “held together” in one cosmic embrace.
- Robert Corin Morris
Provocative Grace: The Challenge in Jesus’ Words
From p. 31 of Provocative Grace: The Challenge in Jesus’ Words by Robert Corin Morris, Copyright © 2006 by the author. All Rights Reserved
via Upper Room
- Robert Corin Morris
Provocative Grace: The Challenge in Jesus’ Words
From p. 31 of Provocative Grace: The Challenge in Jesus’ Words by Robert Corin Morris, Copyright © 2006 by the author. All Rights Reserved
via Upper Room
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Veterans Day Prayer
On this day, we remember the peace accord that brought the First World War to a close. And as we honor and thank military veterans around the world for their service, we also remember those who have suffered great physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual damage as a result of such service, and we pray for their restoration. Moreover, we yearn for that day when swords will be beaten into plowshares, and we will make war no more. May it come to pass, Lord, and soon.
copied from Sojourners Verse and Voice
copied from Sojourners Verse and Voice
My Breathing Problem
I read the following and decided I am not breathing very well!
GOD INSPIRES US with every breath. New ideas, behaviors, and practices flow into our lives with each breath. Breathing within each breath, divine inspiration continually gives us all the resources we need to respond to every life situation. Pause awhile and notice God’s life-giving breath in your life.
- Bruce G. Epperly
Holy Adventurer: 41 Days of Audacious Living
From p. 48 of Holy Adventurer: 41 Days of Audacious Living by Bruce G. Epperly. Copyright © 2008 by the author. All rights reserved
via Upper Room
GOD INSPIRES US with every breath. New ideas, behaviors, and practices flow into our lives with each breath. Breathing within each breath, divine inspiration continually gives us all the resources we need to respond to every life situation. Pause awhile and notice God’s life-giving breath in your life.
- Bruce G. Epperly
Holy Adventurer: 41 Days of Audacious Living
From p. 48 of Holy Adventurer: 41 Days of Audacious Living by Bruce G. Epperly. Copyright © 2008 by the author. All rights reserved
via Upper Room
Monday, November 9, 2009
The wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --
over and over announcing your place in the family of things.
- Mary Oliver, from her poem "Wild Geese"
via Verse and Voice/Sojourners
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --
over and over announcing your place in the family of things.
- Mary Oliver, from her poem "Wild Geese"
via Verse and Voice/Sojourners
Saturday, November 7, 2009
God Images
WHAT ARE YOUR IMAGES FOR GOD? If you are a visual learner, you may be able to visualize and perhaps even draw your image or images for God. However, we have found that American mainline Protestants tend to experience God as a feeling (such as love or warmth) rather than an image (such as shepherd or fortress). If you are an auditory learner, you may sense God through music or in the sounds of nature. If you are a tactile learner, you may understand God’s presence throush lighted candles or incense or through items you can touch, like a cross. People experience God in a variety of ways, and no one way is the “right” way.
- Valerie K. Isenhower and Judith A. Todd
Living into the Answers: A Workbook for Personal Spiritual Discernment
From pp. 29-30 of Living into the Answers: A Workbook for Personal Spiritual Discernment by Valerie K. Isenhower and Judith A. Todd. Copyright © 2008
from Upper Room Daily Reflections
- Valerie K. Isenhower and Judith A. Todd
Living into the Answers: A Workbook for Personal Spiritual Discernment
From pp. 29-30 of Living into the Answers: A Workbook for Personal Spiritual Discernment by Valerie K. Isenhower and Judith A. Todd. Copyright © 2008
from Upper Room Daily Reflections
Thursday, November 5, 2009
MOST PEOPLE … would probably be intimidated if asked, “How have you served God’s purposes lately?” because they immediately think of something “important” like missionary work, helping the downtrodden, or joining a protest against injustice. I’m convinced many, if not most, of us cross paths with one or more of God’s purposes each day, though we may not realize it.
- Robert Corin Morris
Provocative Grace: The Challenge in Jesus’ Words
From p. 117 of Provocative Grace: The Challenge in Jesus’ Words by Robert Corin Morris, Copyright © 2006 by the author.
(from Upper Room website)
- Robert Corin Morris
Provocative Grace: The Challenge in Jesus’ Words
From p. 117 of Provocative Grace: The Challenge in Jesus’ Words by Robert Corin Morris, Copyright © 2006 by the author.
(from Upper Room website)
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
We United Methodists talk about being a connectional system, but in my experience, it is rare for local congregations to actually connect and cooperate with each other in ministry. So I dangle this quote in front of us:
By Jean Vanier
Each community needs to be in contact with others. They stimulate and encourage, give support, call forth and affirm each other…. A community that isolates itself will wither and die; a community in communion with others will receive and give life.
Source: Community and Growth
as quoted at inward/outward
By Jean Vanier
Each community needs to be in contact with others. They stimulate and encourage, give support, call forth and affirm each other…. A community that isolates itself will wither and die; a community in communion with others will receive and give life.
Source: Community and Growth
as quoted at inward/outward
Sunday, November 1, 2009
ALL SAINTS DAY
copied from Richard Rohr:
Question of the Day:
What am I dying to little by little?
All religions in their own way talk about “dying before you die”! They are all indeed saying that something has to die. We all know this, but often religions have chosen the wrong thing to kill, which has given us a very negative image. In almost all history it was always the “other,” the heretic, the sinner, the foreigner that had to die.
In most ancient cultures it was the virgin daughters and eldest sons that had to be “sacrificed;” in Biblical times it was an animal, as we see in the Jewish temple. By the Christian Middle Ages, it was our desires, our intellect, our bodies, and our will that had to die; which made many people think that God had created something wrong in us. Religion then became purity/separation codes instead of transformational systems.
Jesus did say very clearly that we had to “lose our self to find our self” in several different settings. For much of Christian history this was interpreted as the body self that had to die, and for some miraculous reason this was supposed to make the spiritual self arise! It did not work, and it allowed us to avoid the real problem. What really has to die is our false self created by our own mind, ego, and culture. It is a pretense, a bogus identity, a passing fad, a psychological construct that gets in the way of who we are and always were—in God. This is the objective and metaphysical True Self.
It seems we all live with a tragic case of mistaken identity. Christianity’s most important job is to tell you that you indeed and already have a True Self, “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3-4). If we but knew this—every day would be “all saints day”!
Adapted from On Transformation: Collected Talks, Volume I (CD):
“Dying, We Need It For Life”
Current Mantra:
Lord, teach me to choose life.
AND, this copied from Upper Room Daily reflections:
THE COMMUNION OF THE SAINTS can be more than just a doctrine as we imaginatively entertain the saints’ stories and presence among the heavenly host. …
I delight in praying the daily office in company with Charles Wesley, Mary Magdalene, Polycarp, John Donne, Catherine of Siena, Julian of Norwich, and many more. Their persistence in holy practices encourages me, and they remind me that God did not stop raising up great holy men and women with the close of the New Testament. They prompt me to believe in what God seeks to do in changing me from sinner to saint. If they lived out their baptism in daily life; then so can we! In living with and praying with the saints, our sense of the communion of saints becomes a rich treasury of stories and a participation in a community of the living and the dead.
- Daniel T. Benedict, Jr.
Patterned by Grace: How Liturgy Shapes Us
From pages 53-54 of Patterned by Grace: How Liturgy Shapes Us by Daniel T. Benedict, Jr. Copyright © 2007 by the author
In the worship services today we will be reading 15 names in the Memorial Roll.
They too, are in our communion of saints.
copied from Richard Rohr:
Question of the Day:
What am I dying to little by little?
All religions in their own way talk about “dying before you die”! They are all indeed saying that something has to die. We all know this, but often religions have chosen the wrong thing to kill, which has given us a very negative image. In almost all history it was always the “other,” the heretic, the sinner, the foreigner that had to die.
In most ancient cultures it was the virgin daughters and eldest sons that had to be “sacrificed;” in Biblical times it was an animal, as we see in the Jewish temple. By the Christian Middle Ages, it was our desires, our intellect, our bodies, and our will that had to die; which made many people think that God had created something wrong in us. Religion then became purity/separation codes instead of transformational systems.
Jesus did say very clearly that we had to “lose our self to find our self” in several different settings. For much of Christian history this was interpreted as the body self that had to die, and for some miraculous reason this was supposed to make the spiritual self arise! It did not work, and it allowed us to avoid the real problem. What really has to die is our false self created by our own mind, ego, and culture. It is a pretense, a bogus identity, a passing fad, a psychological construct that gets in the way of who we are and always were—in God. This is the objective and metaphysical True Self.
It seems we all live with a tragic case of mistaken identity. Christianity’s most important job is to tell you that you indeed and already have a True Self, “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3-4). If we but knew this—every day would be “all saints day”!
Adapted from On Transformation: Collected Talks, Volume I (CD):
“Dying, We Need It For Life”
Current Mantra:
Lord, teach me to choose life.
AND, this copied from Upper Room Daily reflections:
THE COMMUNION OF THE SAINTS can be more than just a doctrine as we imaginatively entertain the saints’ stories and presence among the heavenly host. …
I delight in praying the daily office in company with Charles Wesley, Mary Magdalene, Polycarp, John Donne, Catherine of Siena, Julian of Norwich, and many more. Their persistence in holy practices encourages me, and they remind me that God did not stop raising up great holy men and women with the close of the New Testament. They prompt me to believe in what God seeks to do in changing me from sinner to saint. If they lived out their baptism in daily life; then so can we! In living with and praying with the saints, our sense of the communion of saints becomes a rich treasury of stories and a participation in a community of the living and the dead.
- Daniel T. Benedict, Jr.
Patterned by Grace: How Liturgy Shapes Us
From pages 53-54 of Patterned by Grace: How Liturgy Shapes Us by Daniel T. Benedict, Jr. Copyright © 2007 by the author
In the worship services today we will be reading 15 names in the Memorial Roll.
They too, are in our communion of saints.
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