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Contents:
The Madonna and Child both in art and religion is a recognition of the
universality of the experience of motherhood as an expression of the
creative and redemptive principle of life. It affirms the constancy of the
idea that life is dynamic and alive – that death as the final consummation
of life is an illusion . . . The limitless resources of life are at the
disposal of the creative impulse that fulfills itself most intimately and
profoundly in the experience of the birth of a child. Here the mother
becomes one with the moving energy of existence – in the experience of birth
there is neither time, nor space, nor individuality, nor private personal
existence – she is absorbed in the vast creative moment upon which the
continuity of the race is dependent. The experience itself knows no race,
no culture, no language – it is the trysting place of woman and the Eternal.
The Madonna and Child in Christianity is profoundly rooted in this
background of universality. Specifically, it dramatizes the birth of a
Jewish baby, under unique circumstances, calling attention to a destiny in
which the whole human race is involved . . . Here is the vast culmination of
a vast expectancy and the fulfillment of a desperate need . . . .
But there is something more. The Madonna and Child conception suggests that
the growing edge of human life, the hope of every generation, is in the
birth of the child. The stirring of the child in the womb is the perennial
sign of our attack on bigotry, blindness, prejudice, greed, hate, ad all the
host of diseases that make of our life a nightmare and a holocaust . . . The
Birth of the Child in China, Japan, the Philippines, Russia, India, America,
and all over the world is the breathless moment like the stillness of
absolute motion, when something new, fresh, whole, may be ushered into the
nations that will be the rallying point for the whole human race to move in
solid phalanx into the city of God, into the Kingdom of Heaven on the earth
. . .
Howard Thurman, “The Mood of Christmas”
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Do Not Be Afraid
Angels in the Bible often announce their arrival with the words, "Do not
be afraid." This leads some of us to conclude that whatever angels look
like, it must be frightful.
The angel in Joseph's dream also says to him, "Do not be afraid," but in
this case, the problem is not the fearsome appearance of the angel. In
Matthew 1, the angel is not allaying Joseph's fears about seeing an
angel, but rather about marrying a pregnant woman. "Joseph, son of
David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child
conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit" (1:20).
As the gospel continues, Jesus will have more to say about fear and courage. The
words, "Do not be afraid," are spoken at least five more times in the gospel of
Matthew, and four of those times they are on the lips of Jesus. He speaks these
words to the disciples during a storm (14:27), to Peter, James and John during
the Transfiguration (17:7) and to the women outside the empty tomb (28:10). To
the disciples he is about to send out to teach, preach and heal, he says, "Have
no fear" of those who have called the master of the house Beelzebul and will
surely also malign those of his household (10:25). "Do not be afraid," Jesus
says, reminding those he is sending out of the One whose eye is on the sparrow.
"You are of more value than many sparrows" (10:31).
Matthew 1:18-25 proclaims several gifts, any one of which could be the center of
an Advent sermon filled with hope and joy: "she will bear a son...he will save
his people from their sins... you will call him Emmanuel, God with us."
Alongside all these—alongside the gift of a baby who bears the very presence of
God to humanity is another gift, a gift that the one who is God with us will
keep offering throughout his ministry: freedom from fear.
The people who will whisper behind your back cannot hurt you, Joseph. Do not be
afraid.
The storm tossing your boat, O disciples, will be stilled by the one who walks
toward you. Do not be afraid.
To those sent out in Jesus' name: the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is greater
than your visions of being tongue-tied when you attempt to give an account of
the hope that is within you. It is greater too than the experience of being
ridiculed when you manage to offer such an account. Do not be afraid.
Do not be afraid even of death, or of a world turned upside down by
resurrection. The risen Lord keeps saying what he said before, "Do not be
afraid." God is with us, and "God did not send the Son into the world to condemn
the world, but rather that the world might be saved through him" (John 3:17).
God is with us for good.
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On this planet the
life cycles of plants and animals depend upon light. Because our existence
is constituted by and around light, scientists demarcate the universe by its
solar systems. Many peoples also speak of intellectual maturation and
spiritual growth as the light. What the Buddha achieves is enlightenment.
The ancient Aaronic blessing says that God’s face shines; artistic
convention depicts holiness as if it were a visible circle of light; and
contemporary cartoons draw a light bulb to indicate a character’s good idea.
. . .Light functions as a metaphor for the word of God, from which comes
knowledge of human salvation and by which the faithful can see how and where
to walk. The prophets speak of salvation as if it were light coming to the
nations. The incarnation of God in Jesus is described as the light of the
world, and God’s people are described as people of the light: people who.
Rejecting the paths of darkness, travel together in the light toward the
light who is God. . . .
Advent is the church’s
observance of the darkness. . . .
Advent acknowledges
the silence of God, the night of human society, the shadows of the human
heart. Advent pleads for the coming of the light, well aware that even on
Christmas Day much remains in dark sorrow. . . . Without such intentional
focus on the darkness, Christians will be ill-equipped to deal with
suffering, to endure the death of loved ones, to face disaster, to stand
alongside those whose lives are permeated with darkness. . . . We are far
from those ancient peoples who, as winter approached, feared that the sun
was dying and that the light of the world would be extinguished. Yet the
light of utopia is still harder to imagine than the darkness of disasters,
and currently dystopian novels and films play upon this ancient fear by
depicting a society gone dark by anarchy or war, a civilization turned to
night through the brightness of nuclear bombs. So perhaps, electricity
notwithstanding, the image of light still has its place of power.
--
Gail Ramshaw, Treasures Old and New
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May the light of Christ, rising in glory, dispel the darkness of our hearts
and minds. Exult, O earth, enlightened with such radiance; and, made brilliant
by the splendor of the eternal King, know that the ancient darkness has been
banished from all the world. . . Wherefore, dearly beloved, who stand in the
clarity of this bright and holy light, join with me, I ask you, in praising the
loving kindness of almighty God. . . . May he who is the morning star find it
burning – that morning star which never sets, that morning star which, rising
again from the grave, faithfully sheds light on all the human race.
– The
Exsultet
O Splendor of the Father’s Light / that makes our daylight lucid, bright; / O
Light of light and sun of day, / now shine on us your brightest ray.
True Sun, break out on earth and shine / in radiance with your light divine;
/ by dazzling of your Spirit’s might, oh, give our jaded senses light.
The Father sends his Son, our Lord, / to be his bright and shining Word; /
come, Lord, ride out your gleaming course / and be our dawn, our light’s true
source.
- Ambrose of Milan
You must note that hardly any of the light coming from the King’s royal
chamber reaches these first dwelling places. Even though they are not dark and
black, as when the soul is in sin, they nevertheless are in some way darkened so
that the soul cannot see the light. The darkness is not caused by a flaw in the
room – for I don’t know how to explain myself – but by so many bad things like
snakes and vipers and poisonous creatures that enter with the soul and don’t
allow it to be aware of the light. It’s as if a person were to enter a place
where the sun is shining but be hardly able to open one’s eyes because of the
mud in them.
– Teresa of Avila
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For the
darkness of waiting / of not knowing what is to come / of staying ready
and quiet and attentive, / we praise you, O God:
For the darkness
and the light / are both alike to you.
For the
darkness of staying silent / for the terror of having nothing to say /
and for the greater terror / of needing to say nothing, / we praise you,
O God:
For the darkness and the light / are both alike to you.
For the
darkness of loving / in which it is safe to surrender / to let go of our
self-protection / and to stop holding back our desire, / we praise you,
O God:
For the darkness
and the light / are both alike to you.
For the
darkness of choosing / when you give us the moment / to speak, and act,
and change, / and we cannot know what we have set in motion, but we
still have to take the risk, / we praise you, O God:
For the darkness
and the light / are both alike to you.
For the
darkness of hoping / in a world which longs for you, / for the wrestling
and laboring of all creation / for wholeness and justice and freedom, /
we praise you, O God:
For the darkness
and the light / are both alike to you.
- Janet Morley,
“All Desires Known”
Let There be
Light/s!: Rewiring/relighting of Sanctuary . . . challenge of Elie
Wiesel’s “Night” . . . engaging with other traditions/cosmologies around
“sun/son” – “Light of the World” and “inner light . . . enlightenment,
illumination, revelation – finding pathways to light in very dark times
. . . creatively/constructively with portrayals “light/dark” peoples . .
. affirming deep darkness, creation and womb . . . “bright ideas,” 24/7
Neon City, search for renewable energies . . . Advent deep blue, late
autumn night, lit by moon & stars . . . days short, nights long, rest &
renewal, dreaming & re-imagining . . . Deserts blooming! Children
saving! Peace prevailing!
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October 28, 2007
Michael Hardin & Jeff Krantz,
PreachingPeace.org. This is a passage that cries out for interpretation
according to mimetic theory. What the Pharisee is doing is voicing the
victimage mechanism that exalts himself at the expense of another. But the
key is that the tax collector's is not reciprocal. If we don't notice the
lack of reciprocity, then interpreters through the ages have provided it by
exalting themselves at the expense of the Pharisee. Hardin & Krantz bring
out this aspect of the text in both the "Anthropological Reading" and the
"So What?" reflection. As Hardin brings out:
We have heard this parable preached where Catholics are the Pharisee and
Baptists are the Publican; we have heard it preached as supercessionism,
treating the Pharisee’s spirituality as ‘works-righteousness’, but that of
the publican as good Christian humility. To preach the parable this way or
any way that scapegoats anyone at any time is to engage the parable, not
from Jesus’ point of view, but from the perspective of the satanic
mechanism.
And, ultimately, such scapegoating readings expose a failure of theology, a
god of wrath instead of the God of forgiveness revealed in Jesus Christ:
This Pharisee has God wrong. God is not about who is better than, smarter
than, prettier than, richer than, holier than. God does not discriminate,
God does not compare us with one another. The Pharisee was bound by his
dedication to the Torah, and that would be a beautiful thing but his
hermeneutic suffered. He had God wrong. The God who blesses the religious
person is a God who can be manipulated. A God who recognizes the selfish
perceptions of our zeal would have to be a god of wrath and violence and
justice and judgement. In short, if God is like the Pharisee thinks God is,
most of us are in some deep doo-doo, as we fall far short of this one’s
righteousness.
...The prayer of the publican is well known, he seeks forgiveness. This is
the God who answers, this is the One revealed in the character of Jesus. The
publican is not expressing some poor old ‘woe is me’ syndrome; he simply and
honestly acknowledges himself for how he acts. He sins, therefore he is a
sinner in need of mercy and healing.
...Recalling our comments on the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, we
might say that each one gets the god in whom he believes. Alas for the
Christian who believes in a violent retributive God.
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Words
for Meditation
“We are very near to
greatness:
one step and we are safe;
can we not take the leap?”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
LEAP
“Perched at the edge
of a cavernous void,
forever so it seemed,
I peered into soupy grayness.
Was anything out there,
down there,
in there,
anywhere>
A ghoulish stalking inched my way,
and just might have
its way with me.
Breaths heaved rumbles like
distant thunder bouncing off
precipices all around.
A vision came to me that all whom
I could embrace, without
a thought of merit, filled the void;
the Mystery of
all truth
was there as well;
and dreams of exultant
aspirations, echewing a paltry few,
were shrouded in the haze.
Balanced on the ledge, I heard
a throaty, kindly sound
fom deep below in the
misty venue:
'Jump, and
I will
catch you!’”
- John Herbert Emerson
“I believe in the sun even if
it isn’t shining. I believe in
love
even when I am alone. I believe
in God even when He is silent.”
-A
World War refugee unnamed
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New Sanctuary Movement Pledge --
As a religious community, ____________ affirms the right of every person to
earn a livelihood; to family unity; and to physical and emotional safety.
Informed by these beliefs, we determine current U.S. immigration law
disregards these rights for millions, many of whom are U.S. citizens,
resulting in serious workplace abuse of undocumented immigrants, harmful
family separation, and widespread fear within the immigrant community. We
also affirm the right and responsibility of the religious community to
extend sanctuary to those whose legal status causes them to fear for their
safety and the safety of their family, to lose their livelihood and to be
unjustly deported. Rooted in these principles, we commit ourselves to:
-
Support the religious communities
extending sanctuary
-
Advocate for the protection of
immigrants against hate, workplace discrimination and unjust deportation
-
Reveal, through education and
advocacy, the impact current and proposed legislation has on immigrant
workers and their families 4. Take a public, moral stand for just and
comprehensive immigration reform.
Rev. Phil Lawson on Numbers 35:1-9, 22-29 – “Please note that
sanctuary is FOR persons who break the law, but cannot get a fair hearing
about the circumstances. So sanctuary is exactly FOR so-called ‘illegals.’”
“Most of the families seeking sanctuary within our congregations and
communities are persons who may have ‘broken a law,’ perhaps years ago as a
youth, or by overstaying a visa. They cannot get a fair hearing. Homeland
Security is picking them up without fair hearing of the circumstances,
present realities that might call for mercy, forgiveness.”
Elvira Arellano, deported, mother of Saul, age 8, not deported – “This
country says that I broke the law by crossing the border and working without
papers. I did that. Yet, I am a worker, and you offered me work. I am a
consumer, and you accepted my hard-won earnings. I am a taxpayer, and you
took my taxes.”
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In Greek, the
word for “beggar” is related to the word for “spit.” Lazarus was a
“spit-upon one,” held in contempt by the rich man.
In Jesus’ day one
of the most contemptible things you could do to a person was to spit in
their face. That still isn’t too polite! To oppose such common social
contempt, Jesus was playing on this spittle word. This old rich man is
dressed up in a tuxedo, holding a conference, inviting all his wealthy
friends, and putting on a big banquet. And poor old Lazarus is lying out
there with the sores. And the rich man spit on him.
But what did the
dogs do? How did they use their spit? They licked his sores. Spittle was
thought not only to show contempt, but also to have healing properties.
Jesus healed a man who was born blind by spitting on the ground, making a
salve, and touching the man’s eyes. Here, spittle was thought to be
something beneficial. Te rich man was using his spittle to show contempt.
How were the dogs using theirs? To heal. In other words, the dogs were
acting in a more human way than a human was.
* * *
* *
Who dug that
ditch? Who dug that chasm? Where did it come from? That rich man knows
who dug it. He dug it! And why did he dig it? He dug it to break up
traffic. He dug it to keep out guys with sores. He didn’t want the value
of his property to go down when sore people moved into his neighborhood.
You know, you’d
better be careful how you dig ditches to keep people out: you might want to
cross them yourself some day. Be careful when you blow up bridges. You
might want to cross that bridge some day. This rich man is caught in his
own trap.
-- Clarence Jordan,
Cotton Patch Parables of Liberation
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Holy God, holy and strange,
holy and intimate, have mercy on us.
O my people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me.
I brooded over the abyss, with my words I called forth creation:
but you have brooded on destruction, and manufactured means of chaos.
O my people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me.
I breathed life into your bodies, and carried you tenderly in my arms:
but you have armed yourselves for war, breathing out threats of violence.
O my people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me.
I made the desert blossom before you, I fed you with any open hand:
but you have grasped the children’s food, and laid waste fertile lands.
O my people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me.
I abandoned my power like a garment, choosing your unprotected flesh:
but you have robed yourself in privilege, and chosen to despise the
abandoned.
O my people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me.
Holy God, holy and strange,
holy and intimate, have mercy upon us.
I would have gathered you to me as a lover, and shown you the ways of peace:
but you desired security, and you would not surrender yourself.
O my people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me.
I have followed you with the power of my spirit, to seek the truth and heal
the oppressed:
but you have been following a lie, and returned to your own comfort.
O my people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me.
Holy God, holy and strange
Holy and intimate, have mercy on us.
Janet Morley
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I was passionate, filled with longing, I searched far and wide.
But the day that the Truthful One found me, I was at home.
Lal Ded, 14th century, Kashmir
“Jesus, to the woman taken in adultery: Go, and sin no more.”
It is not / what it was / or could have been / or might have been
or should have been / or what I thought it would be
or dreamed about / or expected / or longed for / or prayed for.
It is what is. / Nowhere else but / Here. Now.
Only in the is / (not the ought) / does love grow -- / is joy found.
Never in vain hopings / in vanity / in vaunting
or wishing or pretending / or dreaming / but here. Now.
Never in saying / it was not my fault / it shouldn’t have been
I couldn’t help it / but I meant / but he didn’t / but you don’t
understand.
Never / there. / Only here / in the painful light / of my own sin
accepted / seen in its ugliness / repented / forgiven / (forgiveness
hurts)
let me turn / seeking nothing / here / only here / is the longed for /
Word.
Only now can I say / I love you.
Madeleine L’Engle (died recently at age 88), “The
Woman”
Now I must write for myself / for this blind
woman scratching the pavement / with her wand of thought
this slippered crone / inching on icy streets
reaching into wire trashbaskets / pulling out
what was thrown away / and infinitely precious
I look at my hands and see / they are still unfinished
I look at the vine and see the leafbud
inching towards life
I look at my face in the glass / and see
a halfborn woman
Adrienne Rich, excerpt from “Upper Broadway,” 1975
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The festivals we are entering are both unique to the Jewish people and
universal in their meaning. For the peoples of the Northern Hemisphere, it
is the time of harvest in the solar year, time to reflect upon our efforts:
Have all our hopes and deeds brought fruitfulness, or emptiness? And since
they have probably brought forth both, how do we celebrate what good we have
wrought and turn from our mis-doings into renewed joy and dedication?
This need to pause to reflect upon our selves, our deeds, our souls, is one
we share with all humanity: Ramadan, Lent, and other times throughout the
year that are set aside for quiet meditation . . . .
So this seems to be a good time to draw on what the history of the Jewish
people can offer as possible wisdom to other great communities of earth and
to the planet as a whole, in this moment of our planetary crisis. Not just
the wisdom encoded in Torah as a crystallization of that history, but the
history itself, seen from just outside its own boundaries . . . .
Not a closed circle to repeat the past, not a straight line into the future,
but a spiral. Always going back, in order to go forward . . . .
Our crisis is that we are living in the midst of a great dance of God. The
dance spirals from greater Control to greater Community – from greater
mastery over our planet and each other to a deeper sense of the Mystery that
calls on us to live together . . . . A spiral of change . . . .
And now we must dance the other step . . . We ARE the other step. Jewish
renewal, Christian renewal, Muslim renewal, Buddhist renewal, Pagan renewal
– we are this era’s second step in the dance of God. We are the step of
Community that must dance well, if our peoples and planet are not to be
consumed by Control that is out of control, by Making that makes a mockery
of making.
The world has become an earthquake. There is no way to stand still upon it,
for the earth itself is leaping. Our only hope is to join the dance.
Rabbi Arthur Waskow, “The Spiral Dance of God,”
2003
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Let mutual love be shown on this Labor Day
weekend.
Let us show love to our fellow workers, love to
our employees, and love to our employer. Love of neighbor should be
at the heart of all relationships.
We lift up those in our society who are not
treated with respect and kindness in the workplace – those who are
abused, discriminated against or exploited.
Let us remember to show hospitality to
immigrants, for by doing so, some have entertained angels without
knowing it.
We lift up those who are in prison, as though we
were in prison with them.
Help us as a society to create and train people
for good jobs, for we know that many end up in prison because they
see no career path ahead.
The Scriptures tell us to keep our lives free from
the love of money, and be content with what we have, for God has
said,
“I will never leave or forsake you.”
God desires that we have enough, but not too much.
God desires that we all be treated with justice
and fairness.
Help us challenge those who earn too much to find
new ways to share.
Help us stand with workers who don’t earn
enough to support their families.
We lift up workers who are organizing with others
to improve wages, benefits and working conditions in their
workplace. Help them to say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can anyone do to me?”
Remember the leaders of the faith, the leaders of
this congregation. May we imitate those who witness for justice.
For Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and
today and forever.
Through Christ, let us continually offer a
sacrifice of praise to God.
Let us do good and share what we have with
others. For such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
May the work of this congregation, the work of
each person in this congregation and the workers that serve this
congregation be blessed.
For we know that work itself is a gift from
God. Thank you God for the gift of work on this Labor Day weekend.
Amen.
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A scab
Is a beautiful thing—a coin
The body has minted, with an invisible motto
In God We Trust
Our body loves us,
And, even while the spirit drifts dreaming,
Works at mending the damage that we do.
Close your eyes, knowing
That healing is a work of darkness,
That darkness is a gown of healing,
That the vessel of our tremulous venture is lifted
By tides we do not control.
Faith is health’s requisite; we have this fact in lieu
Of better proof of le bon Dieu.
-- John Updike ,“Ode to Healing”
Our generation is realistic for we have come to know man as he really is.
After all, man is that being who has invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz;
however, he is also that being who has entered those gas chamber upright,
with the Lord’s Prayer or the Shema Yisrael on his lips.
--Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
BE NOT AFRAID Insert
By Bob Dufford, Based on Isaiah 43:2-3 and Luke 6:20 I
Chorus:
Be not afraid. I go before you always.
Come follow Me, and I will give you rest.
1. You shall cross the barren desert,
But you shall not die of thirst.
You shall wander far in safety
though you do not know the way.
You shall speak your words to foreign men
and they will understand.
You shall see the face of God and live.
2. If you pass though raging waters in the sea,
you shall not drown.
If you walk amid the burning flames,
you shall not be harmed.
If you stand before the pow’r of hell
and death is at your side,
know that I am with you
through it all.
3. Blessed are your poor,
for the Kingdom shall be theirs,
Blest are you that weep and mourn,
For one day you shall laugh.
And if wicked men insult and hate you
all because of Me,
blessed, blessed are you!
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August 19, 2007
Forget not that God is seated
in your own heart.
Don’t be disheartened by failures at initial stages.
Cultivate the spirit of surrender to the workings of his will,
inside you and outside you, until you have
completely surrendered up your ego sense
and have known that God is in all,
and you and God are one.
Be patient. The path of self-discipline that leads to
God-realization is not an easy path: obstacles
and sufferings are on the path; the later you must bear,
and the former overcome – all by God’s help.
God’s help comes only through concentration.
Repetition of God’s name helps concentration.
Swami Ramdas
Whenever you are on the side of the majority,
it is time to pause and reflect.
-Mark Twain
Never
Forget
While God
doesn't always take cups from our hands. He's with us while we drink in
the pain of life, never abandoning, giving us what we need to come back
to life, a personal resurrection. You will be given what you need to
live, to love, to be your whole self. You have to open your heart to it
all.
-E. Storm
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August 12, 2007
“One Small Boy”
The report
on the miracle
of the bread and the fish
is about what happened
to somebody
who gave all he had.
It is, of course, the story about Jesus
multiplying all that bread and that fish.
But whose bread did he multiply?
Whose fish did he divide?
It all started
with the real hero
of that story:
one small boy.
* * *
I think that Jesus
praised that small boy
who had given all he had . . . .
When you are asked for something
you think you are unable to give,
think of that small boy
of this story,
and think of the twelve baskets
full of food given to him
because he gave
all he had.
-- Joseph P. Donders
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Poems from the Diaries of Atomic Bomb Survivor Reiko
Kajitani, Hiroshima, Japan
Mushroom Cloud (written in 1984)
As if bubbling out of the ground / The mushroom cloud grows
High, high above, larger and larger / Underneath, tens of thousands
Are stripped naked of their flesh / Burned, die screaming
Fellow humans, please do not forget
Black Rain
Black rain covers half of Father’s face / Remains black, in the urn
Give me water (written in 1983)
“Water, give me water” / I walked by without giving them a hand
I cursed my cruel heart / And followed the row of people
They extended their hands, burned black, / And called for help
But I pretended not to see them / And passed by with the heart of a devil
After 36 years / I still hear them call / “Water, give me water”
Haiku Poems (written in 1984)
Mushroom cloud, I see hell on earth / On the anniversary of the atomic bomb
Hell burning and people crying for water
Even now, on the anniversary of the atomic bomb
I watch the peace festival on television
The voices echo “no more nukes” / On the anniversary of the atomic bomb
(Written in 1999 to 2005)
Mushroom cloud, stealing thousands of lives
I don’t even hear the name “Pika-don,” anniversary of the atomic bomb
The storyteller’s memory never fades, anniversary of the atomic bomb
The storyteller’s mission unaccomplished, anniversary Hiroshima
With guilt I prepare rice, anniversary of the atomic bomb
[Pika-Don: A nickname for the A-bomb, “Pika describing the flash,
and “Don” describing the blast.]
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The primary prayer of Christians, called the Lord’s
Prayer, the Our Father, or the prayer of Jesus, gathers up many classic
Jewish themes into Jesus’ proclamation of the kingdom. “Your kingdom come,”
we pray, as did Jews before us and to this day. Both the petition that
God’s kingdom come and that God’s name be honored pray for a world in which
God’s reign is realized. What will characterize this divine dominion? All
will enjoy daily bread and all will have their sins forgiven. Bread and
forgiveness: each person will be able to survive, and everybody together
will unite into a cooperative community . . . . Together we live in God as
in a kingdom, united by the Spirit and calling the whole world into divine
peace.
O Birther! Father-Mother of the Cosmos,
Focus your light within us – make it useful:
Create your reign of unity now. Your one
desire then acts with ours,
as in all light, so in all forms. Grant
what we need each day in bread and insight.
Loose the cords of mistakes binding us, as
we release the strands we hold
of others’ guilt. Don’t let surface things
delude us. But free us from what
holds us back. From you is born all ruling
will, the power and the life to do,
the song that beautifies all, from age to
age it renews. Truly – power to these statements – may they be the ground from
which all my actions grow: Amen.
Being able to say amen implies being able to
trust and be confident and certain that everything is in the hands of God; God
has already conquered mistrust and fear, despite everything. The Lord’s Prayer
has encompassed the whole path of humanity in its drive toward heaven and in its
rootage in the earth. One finds it in the motif of light and the motif of
darkness. And to all of it we say “Yes, so be it!” And we can say yes and amen
to the threat of evil, to the promptings of temptation, to the insults we
receive, and to the onerous quest for bread, only if we retain our certainty
that God is our God, that we are consecrated to the divine holy name, that we
are confident that God’s reign will come, and that we are sure God’s will is to
be done on earth as it is in heaven.
And every one ’neath their vine and fig
tree shall live in peace and unafraid (2x)
And into plowshares beat their swords,
nations shall make war no more (2x)
And everyone ’neath their vine and fig tree
shall live in peace and unafraid.
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Amos is the first of the prophets whose words are collected and preserved in
a book. He is certainly not the last, however. How contemporary some of his
sayings are! Are there instances of religious hypocrisy in our society? How
many people believe that prosperity must be the result of doing right in the
religious sphere? Are there in our society examples of injustice in the courts,
of extravagance in the face of hunger and want, of corrupt and deceitful
business practices? A society with such elements cannot long survive because it
will crumble from the weight of its own oppressions and the decay of its moral
foundation. Amos did not believe that changes should be made simply because
society would be better because of them or because people owed such conduct to
each other as people; this is a humanistic understanding. Rather, the changes
which Amos proposed, even demanded, were changes rooted in his understanding of
God.
Faith clearly tells us that where the poor person is, there Jesus Christ
himself is; where God, there is justice.
Many of us are crucified with you – abandoned in jails, on trash heaps, in
the streets, in cardboard boxes under bridges, with nothing to eat but what
others throw away. May we say with you, “Father, forgive them, for they know
not what they do.”At the same time, there are those among us who crucify you still. We weep at
the thought of the cruel persons who crucified you; but we continue to do the
same thing, when we abandon our children, or the elderly, when we enjoy our
coffee with sugar while farm workers are subjected to a cruel, unjust
exploitation, when we make fun of the imaginary inferiority of blacks, the poor,
or other races. Forgive us, Lord, for all the times we have lynched, scourged,
tortured, and murdered the poor, blacks, or immigrants, when we have robbed them
of their lands, despised them for their customs, and expelled them from our
countries because we want no “foreigners” among us.Lord, stir up in me a great sorrow and sense of scandal at having crucified
you by abusing the weak in our country, and grant me a desire to change my
life. Help me see the invisible wickedness of my people, that I may repent and
begin to walk a new way. Lord, do not permit us to pursue the paths that
crucify whole populations. Help us crucify our false values, that we may rise
to new values. Lord, I know not the way. But you can do all things. You can
accomplish this in me and in my people. Amen.
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Dorothee Soelle, “When He Came”
3 He gave answers to questions they didn’t ask / sometimes they didn’t dare
open their mouths anymore / not because they hadn’t understood
he was taking from them / everything sacred and safe
he offered no guarantees
Fire was not sacred to him or neon / nor singing or silence
not fornication or chastity / in his speech foxes breaddough
and much mended nets became sacred / the down and out were his proof
and actually he had as much assurance / of victory as we in these parts do
None
4 Go ahead and compare him with other great figures
socrates / rosa luxemburg / gandhi / he’ll stand the test
it would be better of course / if you compared him / with yourself
5 It’s supposed to show greatness / that he didn’t say anything
when they took him prisoner / when they shoved him into the room
when they shone a light in his face / when they questioned him
when they testified against him / when they lied about him
when they lied about his father / when they lied about his mother
when they lied about his brothers / when they lied about his sisters
when they lied about his intentions / that he didn’t say anything
is supposed to show greatness / I don’t know
When they lie about him / I want to scream
Dorothee Soelle, “Thou Shalt Have No Other Jesus Before Me (Levi’s
Advertisement, Early Seventies): The Need for Liberation in a
Consumerist Society”
The real exile of Christians in the First World is that we have
learned to endure it. We do not consider our living in the affluent
societies as being in captivity. We rather have adjusted ourselves so
much to Egypt that we feel at home. We have adjusted ourselves to the
Egyptian lifestyle. We have adopted the basic beliefs of the
Egyptians. We see individualism as the measure of human development,
and we share assumptions of history’s caprice – sometimes this group is
on top, sometimes another group. We have learned to endure the exile so
well that we no longer see ourselves as exiled people – as strangers in
a strange land . . . . To learn to endure the exile is to suppress even
our thirst for justice.
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A Creativity Covenant
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I, Your Name, covenant with you, Creator
God, to be open to nudges, clues, and messages from
your Holy Spirit to acknowledge your creative nature within me.
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I will be attentive to my interior landscape of dreams,
memories, images, urges, and aches, that affirm my abilities and
creative capacities
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I will always seek ways to relate to the natural and human
world that make meaware of your active and divine creativity through
others.
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I will engage in regular prayer, meditation, and holy
conversations with others to nurture and support my current and
emerging self-affirmation of creativity.
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I will actively take steps to release myself from past
restrictions as I take bold new steps (and some baby steps) toward
expanding my creative future. I will rememberto give thanks to you.
BLISS 101
How to Fall in Love With Your Own Creative Gifts
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Acknowledge the divine source of your creative being. (Don’t
fight it, just do it.)
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Admit that you are powerless to excise this core of creativity
from within you.(Accept it – you’re made in God’s image.)
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Remember that you are free to use or ignore this power within
you. (You still have free will.)
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Our spirit yearns to express it. (Wake up and smell the
watercolors.)
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Travel in a group. We will enjoy the ride much more when we
connect with others who are on this journey. (Joy loves company.)
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Make time to express yourself. (It is not wasted time; put it
on the calendar.)
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Acknowledge its significance for a healthy life. (It’s not the
icing, silly; it’s the cake.)
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Our creativity flourishes in the environment of affirming and
supportive people in our lives – family, friends, colleagues.
(Don’t be a lone ranger.)
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Creative expression is a channel of divine revelation. (What
a mystery!)
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You have everything you need to get started. (Let go, you
won’t fall.)
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Keep your day job. (You can be normal and creative too.)
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Get a shovel and start planting your tree today. (Twenty years
from now you’ll be glad you did.)
Beverly J. Shamana, Seeing in the Dark: A
Vision of Creativity and Spirituality
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July 1, 2007
In celebration of the Fourth of July there will be many speeches about
the young people who “died for their country.” But those who gave their
lives did not, as they were led to believe, die for their country; they died
for their government. The distinction between country and government is at
the heart of the Declaration of Independence, which will be referred to
again and again on July 4, but without attention to its meaning.
The Declaration of Independence is the fundamental document of
democracy. It says governments are artificial creations, established by the
people, “deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,” and
charged by the people to ensure the equal right of all to “life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness.” Furthermore, as the Declaration says,
“whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is
the right of the people to alter or abolish it.” It is the country that is
primary – the people, the ideals of the sanctity of human life and the
promotion of liberty.
When a government recklessly expends the lives of its young for the crass
motives of profit and power, while claiming that its motives are pure and
moral (“Operation Just Cause” was the invasion of Panama and “Operation
Iraqi Freedom” in the present instance), it is violating its promise to the
country. War is almost always a breaking of that promise. It does not
enable the pursuit of happiness but brings despair and grief.
Mark Twain, having been called a “traitor” for criticizing the U.S.
invasion of the Philippines, derided what he called “monarchical
patriotism.” He said: “The gospel of the monarchical patriotism is: ‘The
King can do no wrong.’ We have adopted it with all its servility, with an
unimportant change in the wording: ‘Our country, right or wrong!’ We have
thrown away the most valuable asset we had – the individual’s right to
oppose both flag and country when he/she believed them to be in the wrong.
We have thrown it away; and with it, all that was really respectable about
that grotesque and laughable word, Patriotism.”
To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against
the disorder of the world.
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