there’s a tree in there
somewhere
reach into the sky
little seed
what possibilities lie dormant in us
ready to grow into being
when we let go
and open ourselves
to the light of the sun
to the refreshing rain
to the hidden depths
of the mothering earth
solid beneath us
yet soft to shelter our sprouting
reach up to the sky
let yourself grow
and one day you will
find the birds of the air
resting with their heads under their wings
waking and singing the dawning of hope
sheltering in your branches
a soft nest
perhaps
a pale blue speckled egg
waiting to be born
and to fly
let yourself be grown
your life is full of possibility
you are the seed
you are the bird
and you are also the tree
~ Lotte Webb
Giver of Hope
Spirit of God,
you open doors that are locked,
break the shackles of slavery,
erode the pyramids of domination,
and tumble tyrants from their thrones.
You give us life
and whisper in our hearts,
“You are God’s beloved child,
and always will be.”
Deep in every human heart
you plant a seed of promise,
a glimmer of expectation, and a spark of hope.
And because you give us breath, we praise you.
Somewhere between Annunciation and Magnificat;
between the angel thought and the setting out
into the unknown is the waiting time
when ordinary happenings: leaping of babies, conversations of home, holding out hands,
in friendship and trust, become miracles;
that bridge the gap between loving and being.
Then the words that tumble out of the everyday
begin to take the rhythm of a liberation song
and the body moves wholly towards tomorrow.
Advocates, peacemakers,
Those who seek justice
And all who support them.
Let us pray in confidence
And inspire to action,
Living out our faith
As the people of the way,
Lighting that way
For younger generations
And all who have given up hope.
We come together
In prayer and reflection
To consider the plight of the earth,
Of humanity and all living things,
To remember in solemnity,
To consider in kindness,
And to encourage one another
In the finding of solutions,
In the task of applying them
And in the will to work together
To carry them through.
~ Anastasia Somerville-Wong
Love is a living thing,
God of boisterous spirit and unflinching hope,
For their nurture and protection,
Comfort and assurance.
We pray for their characters,
That they might enjoy the untainted beauty
Of unspoiled landscapes and pristine seas,
All the earth and beyond.
~ Anastasia Somerville-Wong
~ Richard Rohr
an eagle soaring,
a voice from the wilderness
echoing through your ear.
Whispering, encouraging –
keep going, seek My glory,
don’t worry, I’ll keep
your fears.
~ Juanita Helphrey
Bless your eyes that you may have clarity of vision,
Bless your mouth that you may speak the truth,
Bless your ears that you may hear all that is spoken to you,
Bless your heart that you may be filled with love,
Bless your feet that you may find and walk your own true path.
~ Hannah Ward and Jennifer Wild
the wonder of whose presence fills us with awe,
let kindness, justice and love shine in our world.
Let your secrets be known here as they are in heaven.
Give us the food and the hope we need for today.
Forgive us our wrongdoing
as we forgive the wrongs done to us.
Protect us from pride and from despair
and from the fear and hate which can swallow us up.
In you is truth, meaning, glory and power,
while worlds come and go. Amen.
~ The St Hilda Community
The guarding of the God of life be upon me,
The guarding of loving Christ be upon me,
The guarding of hte Holy Spirit be upon me,
Each step of the way,
To aid me and enfold me,
Each day and night of my life.
~ Esther De Waal
August 26, 2020
August 25, 2020
Lord of the morning,
you come to us in sunshine and in shower. Unobtrusive, you call us into life once again. We long for your love to enfold us,
your Spirit to refresh us and renew us,
your gentle presence to guide and protect us. In return we offer you our grateful thanks – ourselves just as we are.
August 20, 2020
NEW BEGINNINGS
Lord, take my life, my small life,
and illume it:
that everything I say and do
may reflect the light of your glory.
Lord, take my life, my small life,
and imprint it:
that everything I say and do
may reveal the image of your love.
Lord, take my life,
my small life,
and inspire it:
that everything I say and do
may resonate with the power of your Spirit.
Lord, take my life,
my small life,
and indwell it:
that everything I say and do may radiate your Life,
your glorious Life.
~ Pat Bennett
August 19, 2020
After Psalm 19
The sky does it simply, naturally day by day by day
the sun does it joyfully like someone in love
like a runner on the starting-line the sky, the sun,
they just can’t help themselves
no loud voices, no grand speeches
but everyone sees,
and is happy with them.
Make us like that, Lord
so that our faith is not in our words but in our lives not in what we say but in who we are
passing on your love like an infectious laugh: not worried, not threatening, just shining like the sun, like a starry night,
like a lamp on a stand, light for life –
your light for our lives.
~ The Iona Community
August 18, 2020
Get articulate. Move the blood. Attend periphery.
Prepare to dance the Open Dance. Learn to gather momentum and Throw it away.
Explode into the ordinary and
Keep your eyes wide. Embrace fear. Suspend doubt. Specify.
Simplify. Strengthen. Launch.
Float.
Dignify the confusion. Visualize the next step. Stick your toe in. Get all wet!
Barbara Dilley, Dancer and teacher, CO
August 14, 2020
Be still, my children,
My voice is not always
heard in the thunder and earthquakes
of your experience.
I do not only speak when you are
physically and mentally involved in living.
Be still – and in the stillness I will speak.
When you are quiet
when you are resting
when you are aware of me pulsating within
you and around you
when you are waiting and listening,
I will break through
and enrich your silence
releasing my peace and glory
and transforming your experience
until in the stillness
you find yourself longing
to shout for joy.
~ Ruth Burgess
August 13,2020
I Am Silent . . . and Expectant
How silently, how silently
the wondrous gift is given.
I would be silent now, Lord,
and expectant . . . that I may receive
the gift I need,
so I may become
the gifts others need.
~ Ted Loder
August 12, 2020
August 11, 2020
Otherwise the Darkness
I
have a cause.
We need those don’t we?
Otherwise the darkness and the cold gets in
and everything starts to ache.
My soul has a purpose;
it is to love.
If I do not fulfill
my heart’s vocation,
I suffer.
~ Thomas Aquinas
August 10, 2020
FOR THE LIFE OF YOUR WORLD
Lord of the journey – I offer You my feet; take them and anoint them
that I might go out into the barren places run towards the prodigal
travel the extra mile.
Lord of compassion – I offer You my hands; take th m and free them
that I might reach out to the rejected tend the wounds of the broken
wash the feet of the poor.
Lord of the Gospel – I offer You my voice; take it and strengthen it
that I might proclaim the reign of Your Kingdom speak out against injustice
ask hard questions.
Lord of wisdom – I offer You my mind; take it and enlighten it
that I might see with the eye of an eagle uncover new possibilities
reach beyond the obvious.
Lord of love – I offer You my heart; take it and wound it
that I might share in the pain of the suffering become a home for the lost
love without calculation.
Lord of eternity – I offer You my life; take it and spend it
for the life of Your world. Pat Bennett
August 7, 2020
The time for healing of the wounds has come. The time to build is upon us….
We pledge ourselves to liberate all our people from the continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender and other discrimination…
There is no easy road to freedom…
None of us acting alone can achieve success.
We must therefore act together as a united people, for reconciliation, for nation building, for the birth of a new world.
~Nelson Mandela
August 6, 2020
The world is fast losing its soul
but you don’t have to surrender yours.
You don’t have to live on a mechanical globe.
You don’t have to tame your deep-forest passions.
You don’t have to suppress your radiant beauty.
Live your joy,
Go against the grain.
Don’t be made timid by worried rejection.
Let nature’s curious wisdom fill you.
Let the world’s mystical heritage guide you.
Paint your canvases,
play your tunes.
Give your all to the words that are born from you.
Your father and your father’s heaven
will never abandon you
but always love
the scintilla of your spirit.
~ Thomas Moore
August 4, 2020
Celebrating Along the Way
We celebrate this God who leaps free of all our boundaries
In love stretching out from horizon to horizon,
And in mercy bending deep into fragile human hearts.
~ Dorothy McRae-McMahon
August 3, 2020
When faith feels as insubstantial as a spider’s thread,
when I dangle terrified,
unconvinced of the realities that I do not see,
help me to hear the stories of the faithful who have gone before,
life lines in the darkness,
creating a web of certainty.
Faithful people who hoped in times of no hope:
Abraham leaving behind all the certainties of home,
Sarah believing in new life, against all the odds,
the saints, names and unnamed who have lived lives of hope,
proclaiming their faith in word and deed.
Then as I hear their witness, I swing like an acrobat,
confident that this thread of faith will never break,
secure once again of the realities that I cannot see,
but upon which I trust my life.
Ruth Maxey
July 30, 2020
Count the Stars
He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness. ~ Genesis 15:5-6
July 29, 2020
Fingerprints
Gently working,
Potter’s hands;
Kneading, shaping,
Softening clay.
Moulding, flexing.
Changing form,
With skillful eyes the guide
To see
Beyond the lump of lifeless clay
A vision of of what lies within:
Potential yet to come to birth,
Created from his loving touch
And his fingertip imprints
On the clay.
Lord, let me be
As clay within Your hands,
That You may shape
The me You hold within Your dreams
And I may know
Your fingerprints
Upon my life.
~ Pat Harsh
July 27, 2020
I believe
Enemy of apathy
She sits like a bird, brooding on the waters, hovering on the chaos of the world’s first day; she sighs and she sings, mothering creation, waiting to give birth to all the Word will say. She wings over earth, resting where she wishes, lighting close at hand or soaring through the skies; she nests in the womb, welcoming each wonder, nourishing potential hidden to our eyes. She dances in fire, startling her spectators, waking tongues of ecstasy where dumbness reigned; she weans and inspires all whose hearts are open, nor can she be captured, silenced or restrained. For she is the Spirit, one with God in essence, gifted by the Saviour in eternal love; she is the key opening the scriptures, enemy of apathy and heavenly dove.
~ The Iona Community
I desire to know the illusions that keep me from growing.
Help me pay attention to what stirs within me. May any falseness in my life be revealed.
Lead me to the peaceful place deep within where you and I are truly one.
I open the door of my heart to you. I open the door.
Hear the Call of Your Love
God of Space and God of Time:
Give me a listening heart to hear the call of your love. Infinite and vast, beyond all timea and space, yet also right here and now, you show me there is plenty of awe to go around. Thank you for this day and all the experiences it will offer. Amen.
~ Peter Traben Haas
July 1, 2020
“One person can make a difference, and everyone should try.” ― John F. Kennedy
June 30, 2020
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” ― Theodore Roosevelt
we step back from the activities of the day.
the things we are doing,
and find new meaning for them, and new strength for doing them.
And moments for recalling
how we are meeting you already,
in the stuff of daily living and engagement,
and compassion is translated into action.
AMEN.
June 22, 2020
It was the wind that gave them life.
It is the winds that come out of our mouths now that gives us life.
When this ceases to blow we die.
In the skin of our fingers we can see the trail of the wind;
it shows us where the wind blew when
our ancestors were created.
~Washington Matthews
June 10, 2020
“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.” Helen Keller
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
June 9, 2020
“Sever the ties to your comfort zone.
Stretch yourself to see the wonders for you beyond the horizons.
Get up on your tiptoes
Reach up to the Lord
Great things await only those who see and believe.
It’s only them that can receive.”
― Manuela George-Izunwa
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 28, 2020
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting
You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear r>ebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter h9w 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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 27, 2020
Compline
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, remembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half.heard,
in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always –
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of things shall be well
When the tongues of flames are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and rose are one.
~ T.S. Eliot
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 22, 2020
Litany of letting go
I let go:
window and door house and home memory and fear.
I let go the hurt of the past
and look to the hope of the future.
I let go
knowing that I will always carry
part of my past (part of you) with me woven into the story of my life.
Help us, Christ our brother to softly fold inside
the grief and the sadness, to pack away the pain and to move on;
taking each day in your company, travelling each step in your love.
May time
The greening of trees
the gentling of friends
laughter’s healing art and love’s costly power
beckon and lead me onwards.
O God, star -kindler
kindle a flame of love within me
to lighten my path
in days of darkness.
O God, sun-warmer
warm me with your love
to melt the frozen hand of guilt.
O God, moon-burnisher
burnish my shield of faith
that I may seek justice
and follow in the ways
of peace.
~Kate Mcllhagga
O Holy One.
Blessed be these hands that have touched life.
Blessed be these hands that have held pain.
Blessed be these hands that have closed in anger.
Blessed be these hands that have become knotty with age.
Blessed be these hands that are wrinkled and scarred from doing justice.
Blessed be these hands that have reached out and been received.
Blessed be these hands that hold the promise of the future.
Blessed be the works of your hands,
O Holy One.
The words and wonderings of being alive
I am thankful for:
Insights that show me straight lines are overrated,
Logic and reason don’t solve everything,
the table is round
and there’ s music in the air;
quiet moments, noisy moments, inspiring moments;
voices that echo in my mind and become friends;
all sorted conversations;
seeds that don’ t stay
where they are put;
my friend’ s shoes that encourage walking on air
which is not an element for walking on;
earth-supported, water-washed, air-blessed, fire-inspired bread and poetry;
people who in all their extraordinary ordinariness
tum up on the doorstep like parcels of wonderful surprises;
connections and process;
being and becoming;
today and tomorrow,
which are different and always will be.
~ Joy Mead
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 11, 2020
Ask, seek, live
Ask and it shall be given to us.
Seek and we shall find.
Lord, what should we look for?
If we ask for the earth we shall have it,
but why would we want it?
If we seek riches and gems they shall be ours,
but what can we do with them?
These will wither and decay.
You make it clear and simple, Lord.
In prayer we may not boast or curse
or ask only for things we like or want.
Rather, we must hallow your name,
bring about your kingdom,
asking for sustenance, seeking forgiveness,
looking for repentance and guidance.
For only these things can truly bring us life,
health and peace.
These we ask and seek,
in your name and for your glory.
~Simon Peters
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 8, 2020
Affirmation
We believe in a bright and amazing God who has been to the depths of despair on our behalf;
who has risen in splendour and majesty; who decorates the universe with sparkling water,
clear white light, twinkling stars and sharp colours,
over and over and over again.
We believe that Jesus is the light of the world;
even though we make the same mistakes,
over and over and over again.
We commit ourselves to Jesus,
to one another as brothers and sisters,
and to the Maker’s business in the world.
God said: Let there be light.
Amen
~Helen Lambie
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 7, 2020
New Beginnings
Lord, take my life,
my small life,
and illume it:
that everything I say and do
may reflect the light of your glory.
Lord, take my life,
my small life,
and imprint it:
that everything I say and do
may reveal the image of your love.
Lord, take my life,
my small life,
and inspire it:
that everything I say and do
may resonate with the power of your Spirit.
Lord, take my life,
my small life,
and indwell it:
that everything I say and do
may radiate your Life,
your glorious Life.
~ Pat Bennett
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 6, 2020
They Have Different Needs
Some seeds beneath the earth are dormant.
They fell the last time the cool air turned the leaves
gold.
Those seeds have different needs than we do:
let them go about their life completely unharmed
by your views.
We have cracked open, we sensed even beneath the earth- theholy was near,
and are reaching up to know and claim
light
as our self
St. John of the Cross
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 5, 2020
THE SILK WORM
I stood before a silk worm one day. And that night my heart said to me,
“I can do things like that, I can spin skies,
I can be woven into love that can bring warmth to people; I can be soft against a crying face,
I can be wings th.at life, and I can travel on my thousand feet throughout the earth,
my sacks filled with the sacred.”
And I replied to my heart,
“Dear, can you really do all those things?” And it just nodded “Yes”
in silence.
So we began and will never cease.
~ Jalaludin Rumi
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 4, 2020
Renewal of Creation
Creating and renewing God
in the renewal of spring nature bursts into life.
We see lambs in the fields, buds on winter branches and give thanks for your continuing creativity.
You are the God who also promises new things: a new heaven and a new earth,
free of futility, hurt or destruction,
and give thanks for your redeeming love.
In Jesus raised, we see his life renewed,
we see disciples lives transformed,
we celebrate new life for us now.
In Jesus raised, we see your future breaking in,
the promise of renewal for creation,
we celebrate hope for our world.
May your new life at work in us,
help us to work in the present for your future, through Jesus
Christ, our risen Lord
Simon Walkling
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 30, 2020
If there is any one message the Bible delivers, it is the message that God loves outcasts and that Jesus was born into the world an outcast to rescue and renew outcasts from religion gone bad. He was born poor and died poor, yet the legacy of love he left us, the legacy of inclusion and acceptance and understanding, will endure forever. ~Mel White
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 29, 2020
The Christian life is not about pleasing God the finger-shaker and judge. It is not about believing now or being good now for the sake of heaven later. It is about entering a relationship in the present that begins to change everything now. Spirituality is about this process: the opening of the heart to the God who is already here.
by Marcus Borg
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 28,2020
“And this is it. This is the life we get here on earth. We get to give away what we receive. We get to believe in each other. We get to forgive and be forgiven. We get to love imperfectly. And we never know what effect it will have for years to come. And all of it…all of it is completely worth it.”
― Nadia Bolz-Weber
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 27, 2020
Home is more than a house. It is a sacred location, a place of aspirations and dreams, of learning and habit, of relationships and heart. Home is the geography of our souls.
~Diana Butler Bass
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 23, 2020
Good and gracious God, if our minds have ever succumbed to dark thoughts,
If our hearts have sunk to the depths of despair,
If our spirits have wearied of empty promises,
We rejoice this day!
In our minds, bright hopes arise,
In our hearts, love soars to new heights,
In our spirits, we sense that an empty tomb is a promise fulfilled.
For new life given through the risen Christ, we offer our thanks and praise.
Amen.
~ Glenn Rainsley
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Earth Day
~ Jane Yolen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 21, 2020
A Great Pilgrimage
I felt in need of a great pilgrimage
so I sat still for three days
and God came to me.
~ Author Kabir
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 20, 2020
Spirit of Comfort and Longing
Spirit of comfort and longing,
enfold my fear,
unclothe me of my pride,
unfold my thoughts,
uncomplicate my heart,
and give me surrender:
that I may tell my wounds,
lay down my work,
and greet the dark.
~ Janet Morley
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 13, 2020
How the Virus Stole Easter
By Kristi Bothur
(With a nod to Dr. Seuss)
Twas late in ‘19 when the virus began
Bringing chaos and fear to all people, each land.
People were sick, hospitals full,
Doctors overwhelmed, no one in school.
As winter gave way to the promise of spring,
The virus raged on, touching peasant and king.
People hid in their homes from the enemy unseen.
They YouTubed and Zoomed, social-distanced, and cleaned.
April approached and churches were closed.
“There won’t be an Easter,” the world supposed.
“There won’t be church services, and egg hunts are out.
No reason for new dresses when we can’t go about.”
Holy Week started, as bleak as the rest.
The world was focused on masks and on tests.
“Easter can’t happen this year,” it proclaimed.
“Online and at home, it just won’t be the same.”
Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, the days came and went.
The virus pressed on; it just would not relent.
The world woke Sunday and nothing had changed.
The virus still menaced, the people, estranged.
“Pooh pooh to the saints,” the world was grumbling.
“They’re finding out now that no Easter is coming.
“They’re just waking up! We know just what they’ll do!
Their mouths will hang open a minute or two,
And then all the saints will all cry boo-hoo.
“That noise,” said the world, “will be something to hear.”
So it paused and the world put a hand to its ear.
And it did hear a sound coming through all the skies.
It started down low, then it started to rise.
But the sound wasn’t depressed.
Why, this sound was triumphant!
It couldn’t be so!
But it grew with abundance!
The world stared around, popping its eyes.
Then it shook! What it saw was a shocking surprise!
Every saint in every nation, the tall and the small,
Was celebrating Jesus in spite of it all!
It hadn’t stopped Easter from coming! It came!
Somehow or other, it came just the same!
And the world with its life quite stuck in quarantine
Stood puzzling and puzzling.
“Just how can it be?”
“It came without bonnets, it came without bunnies,
It came without egg hunts, cantatas, or money.”
Then the world thought of something it hadn’t before.
“Maybe Easter,” it thought, “doesn’t come from a store.
Maybe Easter, perhaps, means a little bit more.”
And what happened then?
Well….the story’s not done.
What will YOU do?
Will you share with that one
Or two or more people needing hope in this night?
Will you share the source of your life in this fight?
The churches are empty – but so is the tomb,
And Jesus is victor over death, doom, and gloom.
So this year at Easter, let this be our prayer,
As the virus still rages all around, everywhere.
May the world see hope when it looks at God’s people.
May the world see the church is not a building or steeple.
May the world find Faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection,
May the world find Joy in a time of dejection.
May 2020 be known as the year of survival,
But not only that –
Let it start a revival!!
Good Friday – April 10, 2020
‘I thirst’ (John 19:29 KJB/AV)
“I thirst
The heat of the midday sun beats back
from the bare rocks of this hilltop,
from the bleached wood of this cross.
The last time this man saw water
was when Pilate washed the blood-guilt from his hands.
The last time it passed these cracked lips
was at table with his friends –
who have now run away like raindrops into the thirsty earth.
I thirst
He imagines water flowing down a river-bed
after the spring rains, when the land is green
where trees grow at the water’s edge,
and – watched by kingfishers in their branches and by crowds from the city alone the bank –
two men wade into the Jordan,
waist deep in the still unpolluted waters.
John cupped his hand and raised it,
a rosary of bright drops falling as he poured water over this head that is now beaded with blood.
Then the dove came down out of a clear heaven
and a voice proclaimed, “this is my beloved son…”
But now the only words under the empty sky are
I thirst
‘Son,’ said his mother at the wedding,
‘there is no wine left!’
And he laughed, ‘what’s that to me?’
But now, when his hour has come, he remembers
that in the courtyard there stood six stone water jars –
huge and full to the brim with cool pure water –
and that he sent the servants
to draw all the wine that they wanted –
to quench everyone’s thirst,
enliven the party and celebrate human love.
That was a sign, water into wine,
just as much as the voice from heaven.
folk said then that the host had left the best till last.
but at last, for the man on the cross, water will do.
I thirst
‘Give me a drink,’ he had said
to the woman at the well outside the city,
her look mingled wonder and mockery.
‘You, a Jewish man, ask for a drink from
Samaritan woman?’
So many prejudices, prohibitions, dangers
of misunderstanding.
Water was the only simple thing.
He remembers how thirsty he was,
sitting there by the well.
She drew water out of its depths,
the bucket overflowing, splashing, echoing,
precious water coming up dark and then flashing gold as she poured it out in the sunshine.
The traveler drank his fill,
letting if caress his throat, grinning in gratitude,
splashing it on his face, his hands, his dusty feet,
making free with the water that was her gift.
Then the talk turned to living water –
a gift to her she didn’t, at first, understand.
But she had understood his human need:
I thirst
His friends hadn’t understood,
when he took the basin and the towel
and washed their feet.
The upper room was filled with baffled silence,
the slip-slop of water, words of protest,
uncertain laughter. but his gentle hands
turned a routine task into a sing of caring:
the water blessed them, brought them together.
Though they drank wine that night,
for some the water was what they remembered:
the washing, the water poured out for them.
And it went on flowing through their lives.
As his life ebbs, he calls out again
I thirst
The soldiers raise a sponge soaked in sour wine, vinegar to his parches lips. it is sharp
as the barbed wire and the minefields along
the Jordan;
as cheap as booze which people drink to forget
and as stale as a marriage the doesn’t work out;
as bitter as the divisions between men and women,
rich and poor, races, different faiths;
it silences the cry for justice
and it leaves a bad taste in the mouth;
it is as numbing as our guilt, as our fear of being loved.
This man’s life was living water. Is this the last word?
I thirst”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Maundy Thursday – April 9
Prayer before going to church on Maundy Thursday
“I will walk in the wind
to meet you Jesus
to let you wash my feet.
I don’t want to.
I would rather stay here in the warm,
away from your towels and water
and offers of forgiveness,
for I know what you mean,
what you ask,
what you give.
But I will come,
for I cannot stay here alone,
and I cannot run elsewhere,
for I know that you are waiting,
welcoming.
And I know that only you
can heal me and hold me.
So I will come
with empty hands to your supper,
empty hands and dirty feet.
I will come as your guest
and with water, bread and wine
you will make me whole
and set me free to serve you.”
~ Ruth Burgess
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 8, 2020
Open my eyes so I can see the wonders of the earth
And the beauty of the sky
Open them wide so
that you can see all the people
that God has given us
as friends to love and abide
For the gifts given to us
with friendship and love
Tranquility and peace
always look for it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 7, 2020
How do we wait
in these fragile times?
How do we understand
resurrection
in the face of so much death?
How can we be still
When so many around
are violated?
Questions
that we cannot answer –
just like the disciples of old.
They were baffled too,
and lost,
weary with grief.
Yet with them
we can pray:”
“God, in these fragile times,
help us to remain open to your Spirit, to work
for the coming of peace and understanding
in our violent and divided world.”
~ Kathy Galloway
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 6, 2020
“When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”
~Audre Lorde
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Palm Sunday – April 5, 2020
Peace Prayer of St. Francis
“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
when there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
Grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand,
to be loved as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying (to ourselves) that we
are born to eternal life.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 4, 2020 “You can’t use up creativity, the more you use, the more you have.”
~Maya Angelou
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 3, 2020
Eagle Poem – Joy Harjo
“To pray you open your whole self
To sky, to earth, to sun, to moon
To one whole voice that is you.
And know there is more
That you can’t see, can’t hear;
Can’t know except in moments
Steadily growing, and in languages
That aren’t always sound but other
Circles of motion.
Like eagle that Sunday morning
Over Salt River. Circled in blue sky
In wind, swept our hearts clean
With sacred wings.
We see you, see ourselves and know
That we must take the utmost care
And kindness in all things.
Breathe in, knowing we are made of
All this, and breathe, knowing
We are truly blessed because we
Were born, and die soon within a
True circle of motion,
Like eagle rounding out the morning
Inside us.
We pray that it will be done
In beauty.
In beauty.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 2, 2020
“Gratitude, like faith, is a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it grows, and the more power you have to use it on your behalf. If you do not practice gratefulness, its benefaction will go unnoticed, and your capacity to draw on its gifts will be diminished. To be grateful is to find blessings in everything. This is the most powerful attitude to adopt, for there are blessings in everything.”
~ Alan Cohen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 1, 2020
Chimes of Freedom
”Far between sundown’s finish an’ midnight’s broken toll
We ducked inside the doorway, thunder crashing
As majestic bells of bolts struck shadows in the sounds
Seeming to be the chimes of freedom flashing
Flashing for the warriors whose strength is not to fight
Flashing for the refugees on the unarmed road of flight
An’ for each an’ ev’ry underdog soldier in the night
An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing
Through the city’s melted furnace, unexpectedly we watched
With faces hidden as the walls were tightening
As the echo of the wedding bells before the blowin’ rain
Dissolved into the bells of the lightning
Tolling for the rebel, tolling for the rake
Tolling for the luckless, the abandoned an’ forsakened
Tolling for the outcast, burnin’ constantly at stake
An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing”
~ Bob Dylan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 31, 2020
“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
~Martin Niemoller
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 30, 2020
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because God first loved us.”
~John 4: 18-19
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 29, 2020
“You are not a drop in the ocean, you are the entire ocean in a drop.”
~Rumi
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 28, 2020
Recently, having been through struggling times, I have used my Bible to find passages to sustain me. As I was reading through Psalms one verse called out to me. I read it often. It helped me with my worries… still I turn to it.
Psalm 55:22
“Cast burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 27, 2020
“In the external scheme of things, shining moments are as brief as the twinkling of an eye, yet such twinklings are what eternity is made of — moments when we human beings can say “I love you,” “I’m proud of you,” “I forgive you,” “I’m grateful for you.” That’s what eternity is made of: invisible imperishable good stuff.”
~ Fred Rogers (1928-2003)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 26, 2020
There is a lot of unclear information about where this poem came from but I think that it was found scratched into the wall of a concentration camp after WWII.
“I believe in the sun, even when it’s not shining.
I believe in love, even when I feel it not.
I believe in God, even when He is silent.”
Author Unknown
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 25, 2020
Wild Geese
“You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile 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.”
~from Dream Work by Mary Oliver
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 24, 2020
“May the road rise up to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face
And the rain fall soft about your fields
Until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.”
~Irish Blessing
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 23, 2020
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 20, 2020
“Each moment of our days–our meals, our conversations with friends, our escapes, obsessions, romances, and distractions–is what we make of our lives. Our habits and rhythms of life are formative not only of who we are but how we know the world, including whether we know it to be a place where God is present or absent.”
~ Mike Cosper
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 19, 2020
Morning Poem
“Every morning
the world
is created.
Under the orange
sticks of the sun
the heaped
ashes of the night
turn into leaves again
and fasten themselves to the high branches —
and the ponds appear
like black cloth
on which are painted islands
of summer lilies.
If it is your nature
to be happy
you will swim away along the soft trails
for hours, your imagination
alighting everywhere.
And if your spirit
carries within it
the thorn
that is heavier than lead —
if it’s all you can do
to keep on trudging —
there is still
somewhere deep within you
a beast shouting that the earth
is exactly what it wanted —
each pond with its blazing lilies
is a prayer heard and answered
lavishly,
every morning,
whether or not
you have ever dared to be happy,
whether or not
you have ever dared to pray.”
~ from Dream Work (1986) by Mary Oliver
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Life is what happens to you while you make other plans”
~John Lennon
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lockdown
Yes there is fear.
Yes there is isolation.
Yes there is panic buying.
Yes there is sickness.
Yes there is even death.
But,
They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise
You can hear the birds again.
They say that after just a few weeks of quiet
The sky is no longer thick with fumes
But blue and grey and clear.
They say that in the streets of Assisi
People are singing to each other
across the empty squares,
keeping their windows open
so that those who are alone
may hear the sounds of family around them.
They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland
Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.
Today a young woman I know
is busy spreading fliers with her number
through the neighbourhood
So that the elders may have someone to call on.
Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples
are preparing to welcome
and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary
All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting
All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way
All over the world people are waking up to a new reality
To how big we really are.
To how little control we really have.
To what really matters.
To Love.
So we pray and we remember that
Yes there is fear.
But there does not have to be hate.
Yes there is isolation.
But there does not have to be loneliness.
Yes there is panic buying.
But there does not have to be meanness.
Yes there is sickness.
But there does not have to be disease of the soul
Yes there is even death.
But there can always be a rebirth of love.
Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.
Today, breathe.
Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic
The birds are singing again
The sky is clearing,
Spring is coming,
And we are always encompassed by Love.
Open the windows of your soul
And though you may not be able
to touch across the empty square,
Sing.
-from Richard Hendrick (Brother Richard) in Ireland
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Grand Canyon
“They say the layered earth rose up
ancient rock leviathan
trailing ages in its wake
lifting earth-mass toward the sun
and coursing water cut the rock away
to leave these many-storied walls
expose of ages gone
around this breathless emptiness
more wondrous far
than earth had ever known.
My life has risen layered too
each day each year in turn has left
its fossil life and sediments
evidence of lived and unlived hours
the tedium the anguish yes the joy
that some heart-deep vitality
keeps pressing upward
toward the day I die
And spirit cuts like water through it all
carving out this emptiness
so inner eye can see
the soring height of canyon walls within
walls whose very color, texture, form
redeem in beauty all my life has been
the darkness and the light, the false, the true
while deep below the living waters run
cutting deeper through my parts
to resurrect my grave-bound heart
making, always making, all things new.”
~Parker J. Palmer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Come and find the quiet center in the crowded life we lead, find the room for hope to enter, find the frame where we are freed; clear the chaos and the clutter, clear the eyes, so we can see all the things that really matter, be at peace, and simply be.”
~ Shirley Erena Murray
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Isaiah 6:1–8
“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke.
And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!” (NRSV)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Peace of Wild Things
by Wendell Berry
“When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Let me keep my distance from those who think they have the answers. Let me keep company always with those who say “Look!” and laugh in astonishment, and bow their heads.”
~Mary Oliver
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
~Martin Luther King, Jr
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“In this world there’s a whole lot of trouble, baby
In this world there’s a whole lot of pain
In this world there’s a whole lot of trouble, but
A whole lot of ground to gain
Why take when you could be giving?
Why watch as the world goes by?
It’s a hard enough life to be living
Why walk when you can fly?
In this world there’s a whole lot of sorrow
In this world there’s a whole lot of shame
In this world there’s a whole lot of sorrow
And a whole lot of ground to gain
When you spend your whole life wishing
Wanting, and wondering why
It’s a long enough life to be living
Why walk when you can fly?
And in this world there’s a whole lot of golden
In this world there’s a whole lot of pain
In this world you’ve a soul for a compass
And a heart for a pair of wings
There’s a star on the far horizon
Rising bright in an azure sky
For the rest of the time that you’re given
Why walk when you can fly?”
~Mary Chapin Carpenter
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“It’s never too late to have a happy childhood.”
~Wayne Dyer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Turning Thirty
“Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his work.” – Luke 3:23
“Luke doesn’t mean that Jesus lazed around for twenty-nine years and then, upon turning thirty, got off his duff and went to work. It’s true, no one knows for sure what Jesus was up to before his thirtieth, but Christians have traditionally imagined him knocking out tables and benches in Joseph’s shop. In other words, working.
So it’s not work that Jesus begins at thirty. It’s his work. Work only he can do; work that fits him; God-imagined, God-bestowed, Jesus-shaped work. A purpose so persuasive that he stops filling orders for dining room chairs, picks the wood curls out of his hair, and leaves his mother calling after him at the door. His work.
Each of us has our work, too. A purpose we find in the overlap of who we are, what we’re good at, what we love, and what our human neighborhood is needing. Work that generates motivating joy as we lend ourselves to it. Work that makes us more fully who we were created to be as we give ourselves away in doing it.
Sometimes our work coincides with our jobs. Sometimes it doesn’t: it disrupts and uproots us. Sometimes it leads to great public achievements. Often it’s as hidden as Jesus was in those first twenty-nine. Whatever it is, we’re meant to seek and find this work that is seeking us. We’re meant to turn thirty, which we can do at any age. The important thing isn’t how old we are when we find it. The important thing is that, like Jesus, once we find it, we step out in trust and do it.”
Prayer
“God, may I find the work that is mine to do, and the courage and grace to do it.”
~ Mary Luti
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Be the living expression of God’s Kindness; Kindness in your face, Kindness in your eyes, Kindness in your smile, Kindness”
~ Mother Teresa
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“The time is always right to do what is right.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.”
– Rosa Parks
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” —Mother Teresa
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
—Barack Obama
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Truth is powerful and it prevails.”
— Sojourner Truth
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”
~ Nelson Mandela
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated.”
—Coretta Scott King
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.”
— Langston Hughes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.”
—Desmond Tutu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, “What are you doing for others?” Martin Luther King Jr.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.
– Jackie Robinson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
‘Come,’
He said, and I did,
Following his voice
Through the crowd on the edge of town.
I needed wait no longer:
My voice had been heard
Calling for change,
Crying out for a fresh start –
Even though it meant casting off old ways,
No longer the needy person everybody knew.
‘Come,’ he said
And I saw what God could do.
‘Your faith has healed you,’
He told me. ‘Now go.’
He never said, ‘Follow me’ –
But, as I could see, there was no other way.
February 5, 2020
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
‘Follow me,’
He said, for I had asked him
The next step on a journey
Of personal salvation.
He reminded me of all the good things
I already knew and did.
So nothing was left to do –
I was ready to go.
‘Now sell all you have,’
He said, ‘Give it away to the poor.’
How could I let go just like that –
Lighten the load,
Shed my responsibilities,
Become someone I did not know?
What would be left?
‘Follow me,’ he said
But with heavy heart
I shook my head
February 4, 2020
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
‘Go,’ he said.
‘Let the children be fed first –
Why should the dogs eat their bread?’
But I would not be turned away:
Hoping for healing,
Hungry for justice,
I stood my ground and argued:
‘In God’s household
Even the dogs are fed.’
Seeing my faith,
He told me to go home
And find my daughter healed.
‘Go,’ he said – and I did.
Feb. 3, 2020
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
‘Follow me,’
he said – and I did.
Tax collecting never made me popular,
But it put a roof over my head
And bread on my table –
Bitter bread, because grabbed and grudged.
He invited me to become
No longer dog in the manger
But host at the feast.
He came right under my roof
Sharing my bread
And showing me how to share
With all the rest.
‘Follow me,’
He said – and I did.
January 31, 2020
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Follow Me
“Follow me,”
he said – and we did.
We let go of the heavy wet nets,
the tough strands of tarred rope:
our strong hands
were empty – we let go
or all we knew how to do,
our livelihood, our identity-
to follow a dream,
a job description
that no one in their senses
would take seriously.
“Follow me,”
he said – and we did.
January 30, 2020
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“The Christian life is not about pleasing God the finger-shaker and judge. It is not about believing now or being good now for the sake of heaven later. It is about entering a relationship in the present that begins to change everything now. Spirituality is about this process: the opening of the heart to the God who is already here.”
― Marcus J. Borg
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“When we lose one blessing, another is often most unexpectedly given in its place.” – C.S. Lewis
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Love is what God is, love is why Jesus came, and love is why he continues to come, year after year to person after person… May you experience this vast, expansive, infinity indestructible love that has been yours all along. May you discover that this love is as wide as the sky and as small as the cracks in your heart no one else knows about, and may you know, deep in your bones, that love wins.”
~ Rob Bell
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“And this is it. This is the life we get here on earth. We get to give away what we receive. We get to believe in each other. We get to forgive and be forgiven. We get to love imperfectly. And we never know what effect it will have for years to come. And all of it…all of it is completely worth it.”
― Nadia Bolz-Weber
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“If you can’t fly then run,
if you can’t run then walk,
if you can’t walk then crawl,
but whatever you do
you have to keep moving forward.”
~Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.”
~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 1/17/20
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Everybody can be great … because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.
~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 1/16/20
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Happy Birthday, MLK, Jr.!
1/15/20
The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But… the good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From Martin Luther King, Jr.
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Something Wise, Something Joyful
Walk wisely in this world.
Listen before you speak.
Look deeply before you leap.
Share love with those who walk beside you.
And, on long winter nights
When the moon is hiding
And frost crusts the soil,
Do not be afraid to try out something different,
Something wild,
Something joyful,
Just for the hell of it
And hope that it leads you to heaven.
~ Ruth Burgess 01/10/20
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1/08/2020
In-dwelling God, we greet you in this new year. As centuries come and go, your presence is ever new when we open our senses to receive you. We ask now that you sharpen our awareness of your creative energy at work within and around us. Let us welcome you in the stranger who is not yet a friend, in the hungry who need the food and care we might provide, in the nurse who fulfills our thirst for water and kindness. Show us your expectations for us this season. Amen.
~ Lavon Baylor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Epiphany 01/06/20
Epiphany is a jewel
multi-faceted,
flashing color and light.
Epiphany embraces
the nations of the world,
kneeling on a bare floor
before a child.
Epiphany shows
a man
kneeling in the waters of baptism.
Epiphany reveals
the best is kept for last
as water becomes wine
at the wedding feast.
O Holy One
to whom was given
the gifts of power and prayer,
the gift of suffering,
help us to use these same gifts
in your way
and in your name.
~Kate McIlhagga
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Away in the Manger…at Home in the Heart
The gift of God’s creative Word that called each one into being is swept into our heart this day like the rush of breath of God’s Holy Spirit. Truly at home in the heart of God, filled with the presence of Divine life and breath, we are called to incarnation. We are invited to the body, the vessel of God’s very presence. We become the embrace for wounded friends, the words of grace for the heartbroken, encouragement and love for those who are the subjects of our greatest relationships. Today may you become a Bethlehem as Divine love is birthed into your life.
~ Rev. Dr. Brenda K. Buckwell, OBL, OSB 01/03/20
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Christ Like! 01/02/2020
I open the stable door,
I look into the manger,
I see the child there,
looking just like you.
I give my love as a blanket
to keep you warm
as I discover in you
the Christ of today
and when you cry
I hold you in my arms
and realize
you’re just like me.
~Richard Becher
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
12/31/2019
We welcome the new beginning that a fresh year offers. All our good intentions are caught up in the promise of starting over. Help us to leave behind that which we cannot change and move forward boldly on the paths in which you would lead us. We accept from your hand the water of life. May the fountain of love never run dry, for we need to drink from it day after day. Amen.
~ Lavon Bayler
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The World Still Knows 12/30/2019
The night is still dark and a procession of Herods still terrorize the earth, killing the children to stay in power. The world still knows its Herods, but it also still knows men and women who pack their dreams safely in their hearts and set off toward Bethlehem, faithful against all odds, undeterred by fatigue or rejection,
to kneel to a child.
And the world still knows those persons wise enough to follow a star, those who do not consider themselves too intelligent
Too powerful
Too wealthy
to kneel to a child.
And the world still knows those hearts so humble that they’re ready to hear the word of a song and to leave what they have, to go
to kneel to a child.
The night is still dark, but by the light of the star, even today we can still see
to kneel to a child.
~ Ann Weems
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Christmas Song 12/27/2019
In the cold of the night
as Mary held her baby tight,
O, warn us, hold us
in your love, God with us, in Christ.
In the lonely night
as Mary calmed her baby’s fright,
O, still us, comfort us
in your love, God with us, in Christ.
In the peaceful night
as Mary trusted all was right
O, guide us, hearten us,
with your love, God with us, in Christ.
In the dark of night
as Mary saw her baby’s light,
O, shine on, shine on us
with your love, God with us, in Christ.
~ Michael Coffey
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Christmas Eve 12/25/2019
Tonight old dreams die and new dreams come to life. The Promise is fulfilled! Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace. Hope gives way to joy and prayer to proclamation. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace. Our candles illuminate our story. Dawn invades midnight. The Light of the World has come. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace. And this light is a light for all; igniting a flame within the soul, warming us from within, radiating love, lighting our lives with the presence of God-come-alive in human flesh within us and among us now and always. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, goodwill to all.
~ Ruth C. Duck & Maren C. Tirabassi
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Christmas Spirit 12/23/2019
The Christmas spirit is that hope which tenaciously clings to the hearts of the faithful
and announces in the face of any Herod the world can produce and all the inn doors slammed in our face and all the dark nights of our souls that with God all things are still possible, that even now unto us a Child is born!
~ Ann Weems
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Prayer 12/18/2019
Ransom me, O God of freedom, from my captivity. Set me free from the things that keep me in bondage. Empower me to take action to reach one of your least or lost. May I see your face in all those I meet today, and may I be your hands and heart in this captive world. Amen.
~ Beth A. Richardson
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The Wild Rose 12/17/2019
Sometimes hidden from me
In daily custom and in trust,
So that I live by you unaware
As by the beating of my heart.
Suddenly you flare in my sight,
A wild rose blooming at the edge
Of thicket, grace and light
Where yesterday was only shade.
And once more I am blessed,
Choosing again what I chose before.
And once more I am blessed,
Choosing again what I chose before.
~ Wendell Berry
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Waiting 12/16/2019
All my life I have waited: waited for the project to be completed, waited for supper to be ready, waited for the doctor to see me. I have waited at the traffic light, waited for the right relationship, waited to grow up.
I have waited alone or waited with friends. I have waited anxiously. I have waited expectantly. Some waits have brought joy. Other waits have brought bad news. Some waits have been “worth waiting for.”
Now it is Advent, and I am waiting again. This time I am waiting in the darkness of my soul-ravaged by sorrow, anger, and fear. But I do not despair in the waiting, for I remember the way light looks and feels. The memories of silent nights with starlit skies are with me, and I have been bathed in the warmth of love’s light. And so I hope-for Messiah to come.
Voices sing, “Prepare him room.” I know now waiting cannot be passive. There is something to do, but where? I have no inn or stable, but in my heart, I can make room. Move over doubt. Move over despair. Make room for Truth, for Life, for Love. Make room for the Prince of Peace.
~ Kathy Clark-Dickens
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12/12/2019
God did not wait till our lives were spotless.
God did not wait till every child was loved.
God did not wait till the hungry were fed.
God did not wait till the broken-hearted were comforted.
God came to a world such as ours to lighten the way, bring hope and guide us into the ways of peace.
~ Nicola Slee & Rosie Miles
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The Hope of Loving 12/11/2019
What keeps us alive, what allows us to endure?
I think it is the hope of loving,
or being loved.
I heard a fable once about the sun going on a journey to find it’s source, and how the moon wept
without her lover’s warm gaze.
We weep when light does not reach our hearts. We wither like fields if someone close
does not rain their
kindness
upon
us.
~ Meister Eckhart
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Caregiving God 12/10/2019
Caregiving God,
providing for our needs,
as you long to fill the hungry with food,
so also fill our imagination
with people and things that are just true,
excellent, noble, and worthy of praise,
that by dwelling on the beauty of goodness,
we may grow into it day by day
as students of Christ
in whose name we pray, Amen.
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Second Sunday in Advent 12/9/2019
Our God, who sends your most valuable gifts as tiny children,
And teaches us to love each other by first loving us,
Remind us again that two candles always give twice as much light,
And that only in community can we receive and share your gifts.
As we lovingly shop,
Help us remember that our gifts are symbols of your incredible life.
Help us remember people who may receive no gifts,
And sometimes even may receive no love that they can recognize.
Teach us to see that no child of yours is unlovable.
Come, Lord Jesus!
~ Kit Kuperstock
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SAPENTIA – WISDOM 12/6/2019
Prayer
O Wisdom, breath of God’s power,
Your glory fills the streets and skies,
Your order all things sweetly and justly:
Come, blow us clean
And teach us wonder and truth.
~ Ruth Burgess
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Midwinter prayer 12/5/2019
God of all creation
of bare forest and low northern skies
of paths unknown and never to be taken
of bramble, sparrow and damp, dark earth
we thank you for loss, for the breaking of the dimming year
we thank you for light, even in its seeming midwinter falling
we thank you for life, for its hope and resistance
like a seed dying and living.
~Rachel Mann
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12/4/2019
Night is drawing nigh –
“How long the road is. But, for all the time the journey has already taken, how you have needed every second of it in order to learn what the road passes-by.
~ Dag Hammarskjold
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Giver of Hope 12/3/2019
Spirit of God,
you open doors that are locked,
break the shackles of slavery,
erode the pyramids of domination,
and tumble tyrants from their thrones.
You give us life
and whisper in our hearts,
“You are God’s beloved child,
and always will be.”
Deep in every human heart
you plant a seed of promise,
a glimmer of expectation,
and a spark of hope.
~ Brian Wren
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First Sunday in Advent 12/2/2019
Creator of infinite stretches of icy universe,
Now is the time we need to address you as Father, as Mother.
Daylight has shrunk. Out in the darkness, people are cold.
You have promised that your word will become flesh and dwell among us,
Bringing your peace and love and joy.
In the cold and the dark,
give us the courage to light one candle,
And share your light with all those around us. Come, Lord Jesus!
~ Kit Kuperstock
