“My hope is that the description of God’s love in my life will give you the freedom and the courage to discover . . . God’s love in yours."
- Henri Nouwen, Here and Now

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Sunday Sermon- Basically in Full :)

* Using the words of writer-preacher, Frederick Buechner, let us pray: “If preachers are to say anything that really matters to anyone including themselves, they must say it not just to the public part of us that considers interesting thoughts about the Gospel and how to preach it, but to the private, inner part too, to the part of us all where dreams come from … the inner part where thoughts mean less than images, elucidation less than evocation … [and where we’re] less concerned with matters of form and good taste than simply with telling the truth” … And so, God, as we embark about this time of dream-sharing together, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable to you. Amen.


What is so amazing about the Child!?!?

After all the office gatherings & parties with friends, after eating way too much food and/or baking a ton, after the kids return to college or school, depending (of course) on their age, after special worship services at church & singing “Silent Night” by candlelight, and (perhaps even) after the chaos of consumerism has finally slowed-- the vicious cycle where (perhaps) even the most thrifty among us were placated to consider—“Maybe I do need another television…” or rather when the realities of the current economic recession hit us hard—our pocketbooks not stretching as far this Christmas as before-- After all of this we return, in liturgical lingo, to today, to so-called ordinary time. …. Welcome.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The evening of Dec 26th, I decided to go on a run, and I was excited to see that—laid out on the houses-- after (most) all the gifts and presents had been unwrapped and what for many of us passes as Christmas had come to a close, there the Christmas lights remained. The Susquehanna river-water was dark and squinting; you could barely make out where the ground or water began, and yet, from the Victorian houses along Front Street, I saw deep blues, reds, and silvers—a festival of light… Then I passed alongside the residential streets closer to the center of town, and I could still make out the distinct shape of Christmas inflatables & other white & colored lights: All suggesting that, post-Christmas, something of hope, strung in the lights still shining, remains: (Perhaps) reminding us that even in the monotony of a simple & ordinary winter day, God’s presence can intervene in exceptional ways. Hence, if we look and listen carefully, we realize that, like the shepherds, we too can walk "haphazard by starlight,”—thanks be to God’s grace---“into the kingdom of heaven." (Unkno)
*******************************************************************************
Yet--- When people think about the Church in North America, (I wager) that they don’t always think about such Kingdom-walking—In fact, it is more likely the Church’s deficiency and not its divinity—its possibility or amazingness- that first comes to mind. And I don’t say this as a criticism—it’s more an observation. And perhaps it’s a foundational one because it prompts questions like this: Amazing Grace—is this something related to us— something we are meant to actually experience?! And perhaps this too: Is there space for sacred adoration left in the Church? Walking by worshippers at a Hindu temple or a Muslim mosque— one quickly notices shoes poetically stacked alongside the front sidewalk & doorway— or listening to a charismatic speaker in the street and there, moved by the genuine glimmer in this soulful individual’s eye, one thinks: This person: They are truly alive; their very essence resounds with the stuff of life—that which beckons transformation! And then after such observations, people turn to the Church & wonder: Have we allowed, enabled, and envisioned such a space—where, as the Doctrine of Incarnation suggests, divinity comes down & actually affects the humanly realm.
Seminarians are just as susceptible to this disposition as anyone else: With our advent to ministry positions, we sometimes resign ourselves- as if its part of the contract—to (presumably) a life of too many, unnecessary meetings, of offering Sunday words to parishioners who may or may not really care, and we bolster the sacks of our dreams onto the lump-pile sum of the Institution of the Church- describing how we both love and hate it—and then, in the midst of all of this, risk forgetting the (perhaps truest) sacraments of Church: a) Transformation or--- Love so real that You are freed to be yourself… that as like Mary Oliver writes in her poem, “Luke”— that we are how “we long to be- that happy in the heaven of Earth—that wild, that loving” and b) the characteristic my words today center on: the deep, profound, and moving ability to care.

My intention today, with the anchoring help of our Scripture passages, is to reveal that, contrary to all our first observations and (perhaps) even contrary to ourselves, the Church has something incredibly important, revitalizing, revolutionary, and life-changing to claim— It’s simple really… So simple that I struggle to put it into words—struggle because just spitting out the words seems too coarse, too besides the point, too simple, and yet equally so strikingly necessary. Our amazing grace is Jesus Christ--- the Christmas child—who gives us reason to hope not in abstract or distant ways but in real, beautiful, the most empowering, right-here-and-now ways!!! – --All this bringing truth to bear on the words that “If we look and listen carefully, we realize that, like the shepherds, we too can walk ‘haphazard by starlight” and notice that, after the Christmas presents have been unwrapped, the Christmas lights remain- and thanks be to God’s grace—we can walk into the kingdom of heaven.’”
This gives us reason to hope. This gives us reason to really Care!

************************************************************************************
My sermon is a bit like a patchwork quilt: Annunciation of Mary using a poem form Denise Levertov—From there we will consider what our Galatians and then Isaiah passage provide in the context of Luke 2—and then look specifically at the, to use poetic license with the term, annunciation or divine revelation we see, almost incarnational, between Christ & Anna and Simeon--- focusing on the significance of God coming into the world as a child and Anna & Simeon’s response to care—even when the odds seem against them.

‘Hail, space for the uncontained God’
We know the scene: the room, variously furnished,
almost always a lectern, a book; always
the tall lily.
Arrived on solemn grandeur of great wings,
the angelic ambassador, standing or hovering,
whom she acknowledges, a guest.
But we are told of meek obedience.
No one mentions
courage. …

Aren’t there annunciations
of one sort or another
in most lives?
Some unwillingly
undertake great destinies,
enact them in sullen pride,
uncomprehending.
More often
those moments
when roads of light and storm
open from darkness in a man or woman,
are turned away from
in dread, in a wave of weakness, in despair
and with relief.

God does not smite them.
But the gates close, the pathway vanishes.
______________________________
She had been a child who played, ate, slept
like any other child – but unlike others,
wept only for pity, laughed
in joy not triumph.
Compassion and intelligence
fused in her, indivisible.
Called to a destiny more momentous

she did not quail,
only asked
a simple, 'How can this be?'
and gravely, courteously,
took to heart the angel’s reply,
perceiving instantly
the astounding ministry she was offered:
to bear in her womb
Infinite weight and lightness; to carry
in hidden, finite inwardness,
nine months of Eternity; to contain
in slender vase of being,
the sum of power –
in narrow flesh,
the sum of light.
Then bring to birth,
push out into air, a Man-child
needing, like any other,
milk and love –
but who was God.


Hail Space for the Uncontained God. …. The words I just spoke were written in the 21st century by poet Denise Levertov—and one could say it was her own response to Parrish’s question to us last week: What is it about the Annunciation- Mary’s encounter with the angel & then ultimately with the Spirit of God- that so enchants—that we so remember Mary’s Magnificant prayer of praise that followed?—that something inside us is struck—and we care.
In today’s sermon, we find ourselves in the same Gospel, that of Luke, the devoted chronicler & supposed physician, a Gospel often said to be for a Gentile audience and noted for its unequivocable presentation of Christianity as an international religion (or, more simply, not just a religion of and for the Jews); the Gospel of Luke also, perhaps more than any other Gospel, holds a special perception for outsiders; in the case of today’s story, we recognize the striking role of women and the elderly.
The Scripture begins, and we see something unique: the Holy Family is seen as distinctly Law-abiding Jews. Also, the setting is the Temple- a significantly Jewish locale, and Joseph, Mary, and the baby Christ are there for the time of purification, according to the Law of Moses- as our New Revised Translation tells us. This “Law of Moses” is detailed in Exodus 13:2 &12 & describes the consecration of the firstborn to the Lord. This reality of the Holy Family as Law-abiding is also mentioned in our Pauline lectionary reading today: Paul tells us, in distinctly authentic Paul-speak, that God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the Law…. However, here is where the magic happens: the result of Christ’s identification with the Law is that the Christ-child then re-translates it. Instead of God’s favor resting with one nation or ethnic identity, as Paul describes and the Letter of Galatians is particularly well-known for describing: God’s grace is with and for all people!
Inclusiveness!!!!
Also, Christ is called Son of God--- a poetic image of closeness--- so close—revealing the poetry of the Incarnation & Levertov’s words: to contain
in slender vase of being,
the sum of power –
in narrow flesh,
the sum of light.
Abba, Father--- Daddy----
In summary-In today’s text from Galatians, we see, with Paul’s use of children—we move from slaves to heirs! The word slave is hard to stomach—Its cruel history in our context and the reality of its presence even now in other contexts doesn’t lighten the load. And yet, when we see that, in this case, it is the term child lifted up as its contrast—one might begin to wonder: (Title & subject of importance) What is so amazing about the child!?! (Repeat)
-------------------------
As I was preparing my sermon, I came across some other insights about our passage in Luke that harken to our other lectionary passage today- the reading from Isaiah—and related discussion of Jewish salvation history.

1. Scholars observes that the neuter ‘soterion’ (salvation) which is used four times in the New Testament (3 of them in Luke-Acts) is found throughout Isaiah 40-66. Our Isaiah passage today comes from this section of text, specifically chapters 56-66, also known (sometimes) as 3rd Isaiah- believed to have written after the return to the Promised Land. Like Second Isaiah, this part speaks of the hope that God will soon restore Jerusalem to its former glory and make a new home for all peoples. Today’s passage is unique: Celebrative- There is wedding imagery! Agricultural!

My whole being? SOUL

One is drawn to imagine the prophecy as evoking one to action- to remembrance— the potential of the promise! See what our God has done! God can do this for all of us. God answers God’s promises! --- Hence, we can hope. We can care!

This theme of promise-fulfillment is also manifest in Luke 2.
This is the second Temple scene in the Infancy Narrative of Luke. The temple figures prominently in Luke-Acts. It opens and closes the Gospel. By the time Luke composes his gospel though, the temple in Jerusalem stands in ruins after the crushing defeat of the revolution under Titus. **** Hence, Luke’s audience would (likely) have been aware that the temple was no longer the institution it was just decades before. (This makes the theme of promise and fulfillment all the more palpable—!)
It is in this context that two old folks happen upon a couple carrying a child. Luke describes Simeon and Anna in terms that he will use of the early Christian movement: Simeon is “righteous and devout and the Holy Spirit is upon him.” Anna is a prophetess and a long time widow. Both await the fulfillment of the promise to redeem Israel.
In Simeon and Anna, two separate encounters with the Christ child, we begin to glimpse that there is something different—something “amazing” about.! And there is something different about this child! From the text, we gain a few things:
• From Simeon’s renown words that form the famous “Nunc Dimittis”- we hear that this child, echoing Paul’s theology, is salvation- “prepared in the presence for all peoples”—to enlighten the Gentile as well as for the glory of Israel.
• This child will cause the inner thoughts of many to be revealed.
* And uniquely, from Anna’s encounter with the child, the child becomes the speaking topic to those “looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.”
Potent Stuff.
And in thinking that it would be a small child to symbolize all of these things, our projections and biases about power are challenged and reorganized (A Lord of Hosts (armies) who is a Prince of Peace). Somehow, God has a different idea—and instead, it is a child and not the mighty warrior that functions as a messenger of greater truth…

In thinking more about this personally, I also thought about children and what is unique about them. A few things came to mind:
1) Like Paul’s theology, they don’t see differences between people as aptly as adults often do. ** Ghanaian children (village)
2) They also tend to believe & care deeply. (Bowling alley- Marin)- thank you! In this vein, they are apt to believe that just because something is a certain way-- doesn't mean it should be
3) They also believe in what we adults often call “fairy tales.”—
In thinking about fairy tales & the Gospel:
The whole truth, says Buechner, has to be told “as a kind of fairy tale where everybody is disguised as something he [sic!] is not and only at the end are all disguises stripped away so that all are revealed for what they truly are ."

We see the Gospel as fairy tale in Luke 2---

Old Anna & Simeon- prophets who SEE announce the truth..


Think about it—in our context where it is often the elderly who are too quickly seen as disposable, where commercial advertisers focus upon the 20-40 year old audience—it is not some young beautiful man …




What is their unique response to their own annunciations or divine interventions? (Simeon uniquely from the Holy spirit and Anna through her prayers)

They hope. They are ready. They are there—seemingly even despite the pain of all the waiting (pain—this child will know—Mary too).



Back to our context! Why should we care??!?!

TV: News (1 think I don’t like)

I want us to stop for just one moment, and I want you to remember a moment of grace in your life: (When like Simeon & Anna you saw the sacred!)

Consider these words:
The absence of exciting and unusual stories about Jesus younger years does suggest one thing about this period. It was probably quite normal. It would be quite typical of the life of any young person growing up in that time. After the dramatic events surrounding his birth, Luke tells us that Jesus and his family “returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth”. They withdrew into the humdrum obscurity of daily life in their rural village, into the customary routines of daily life, the rhythms that marked the lives of friends and neighbors and relations. They shared the struggles and celebrations of their own particular time and place as much as the other families of Nazareth and the rest of Galilee. We can be sure if any unusual events had been associated with the family of Joseph the carpenter, the people of Nazareth would not have been so perplexed by the sudden emergence of Jesus as a powerful preacher and wonder some years later. Jesus and his family would be immersed in the experiences common to the people he met every day. The sheer ordinariness of Jesus youth, such as it could be summed up in a single sentence, was undoubtedly the best preparation for his extraordinary ministry, and precisely because he had come forth from the community to which he was sent.

*** The incarnation affirms that the most ordinary dimension of life can be the place of God's extraordinary saving activity. Recognizing this, suggests Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, is the secret to living the entire liturgical year with a sense of God's presence. In our most mundane circumstances, "here we are daily, not necessarily attractive and saintly people, along with other not very attractive and saintly people, managing the plain prose of our everyday service, deciding daily to recognize the prose of ourselves and each other as material for something unimaginably greater — the Kingdom of God, the glory of the saints, reconciliation and wonder" (Where God Happens, 2005).

We have heard similar advice from Simeon & Anna this morning. If I could re-phrase it for myself, I would say something like this:

There’s something truly amazing about God revealing God-self in a child-- IT speaks of a God whose love is different, deeper, and truer…


Even when life feels so ordinary, there is reason to hope.

* Like Simeon spotting the child--- Prodigal Son parable in Luke where God like the Father—reveals to us that we are all God’s beloved Children. God’s love for us is deep. This is what the Church has the incredible privilege to claim & to celebrate. Let us proceed with courage. Let us be Kingdom-Walkers.

The Christmas lights are still shining for a reason.


Let us conclude in prayer & this time of mutual dream-sharing with the words of a man who needed hope, Nelson Mandela: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Still Thinkin' on Fairy Tales






Joni Mitchell Lyrics
"Moons and junes and ferris wheels
The dizzy dancing way you feel
As evry fairy tale comes real
Ive looked at love that way."

Friday, December 26, 2008

Sunday's Sermon in Progress...

I am preaching this Sunday.... This is what I've written so far....

* Using the words of writer-preacher, Frederick Buechner, I pray: “If preachers are to say anything that really matters to anyone including themselves, they must say it not just to the public part of us that considers interesting thoughts about the Gospel and how to preach it, but to the private, inner part too, to the part of us all where dreams come from … the inner part where thoughts mean less than images, elucidation less than evocation … [and where we’re] less concerned with matters of form and good taste than simply with telling the truth” … And so, God, as we embark about this time of dream-sharing together, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable to you. Amen.


What is so amazing about the Child!?!?

After all the office gathering & parties with friends, after eating way too much food and/or baking a ton, after the kids return to college or school, depending (of course) on their age, after special worship services at church, and (perhaps even) after the chaos of consumerism has finally slowed-- the vicious cycle where even the most thrifty among us were (perhaps) placated to consider—“Maybe I do need another television…”-- After all of this we return, in liturgical lingo, today, to so-called ordinary time. …. Welcome.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The evening of Dec 26th, I decided to go on a run, and I was excited to see that, after (most) all the gifts and presents all the house had been unwrapped and what for most of us passes as Christmas had come to a close, there the Christmas lights remained. The Susquehanna river-water was dark and squinting, you could barely make out where the ground or water began, and yet, from the Victorian houses along Front Street, I saw deep blues, reds, and silvers—a festival of light… Then I passed alongside the residential streets closer to the center of town, and I could still make out the distinct shape of Christmas inflatables & other white & colored lights: All suggesting that, post-Christmas, something of hope, strung in the lights still shining, remains: (Perhaps) Reminding us that even the monotony of a simple & ordinary winter day can be a place where God intervenes in exceptional ways. If we look and listen carefully, we realize that, like the shepherds, we too can walk "haphazard by starlight,”—thanks be to God’s grace---“into the kingdom of heaven." (Unkno)
*******************************************************************************
Yet--- When people think about the Church in North America, (I wager) that they don’t think about such Kingdom-walking—In fact, it is more likely the Church’s deficiency and not its divinity—its possibility or magic-- that first comes to mind. And I don’t say this as a criticism—it’s more an observation. And perhaps it’s a foundational one because it prompts questions like this: Amazing Grace—is this something related to us— something we are meant to actually experience?! And perhaps this too: Walking by worshippers at a Hindu temple or a Muslim mosque— one quickly notices shoes poetically stacked alongside the front sidewalk & doorway— or listening to a charismatic speaker in the street and there, moved by the genuine glimmer in this soulful individual’s eye, one thinks: This person: They are truly alive; their very essence resounds with the stuff of life—that which beckons transformation! And then after such observations, people turn to the Church & wonder: Is there any space for sacred adoration left there?! Have we allowed, enabled, and envisioned such a space—where, as the Doctrine of Incarnation suggests, divinity comes down & actually affects the humanly realm.
Seminarians are just as susceptible to this disposition as anyone else: With our advent to ministry positions, we sometimes resign ourselves- as if its part of the contract-- to a life of unnecessary meetings, of offering Sunday words to parishioners who may or may not really care, and we bolster the sacks of our dreams onto the lump-pile sum of the Institution- describing how we both love and hate it—and then, in the midst of all of this, risk forgetting the (perhaps truest) sacraments of Church: a) Transformation or--- Love so real that You are freed to be yourself… that like Mary Oliver writes in her poem, “Luke”— how “we long to be- that happy in the heaven of Earth—that wild, that loving” and b) the characteristic my words today center on: the deep, profound, and moving ability to care.

My intention today is to reveal that, contrary to all our first observations and even contrary to ourselves, the Church has something incredibly important, revitalizing, revolutionary, and life-changing to claim— It’s simple really… So simple that I struggle to put it into words—struggle because just spitting out the words seems too coarse, too besides the point, and yet equally necessary. Our amazing grace is Jesus Christ--- the Christmas child—who gives us reason to hope not in abstract or distant ways but in real, beautiful, the most empowering, right-here-and-now ways!!! – --All this bringing truth to bear on the words that “If we look and listen carefully, w realize that, like the shepherds, we too can walk ‘haphazard by starlight” and, notice that after the Christmas presents have been unwrapped, the Christmas lights remain- and thanks be to God’s grace-- walk into the kingdom of heaven.’”
This gives us reason to hope. This also gives us reason to really Care!

************************************************************************************

‘Hail, space for the uncontained God’
We know the scene: the room, variously furnished,
almost always a lectern, a book; always
the tall lily.
Arrived on solemn grandeur of great wings,
the angelic ambassador, standing or hovering,
whom she acknowledges, a guest.
But we are told of meek obedience.
No one mentions
courage. …

Aren’t there annunciations
of one sort or another
in most lives?
Some unwillingly
undertake great destinies,
enact them in sullen pride,
uncomprehending.
More often
those moments
when roads of light and storm
open from darkness in a man or woman,
are turned away from
in dread, in a wave of weakness, in despair
and with relief.

God does not smite them.
But the gates close, the pathway vanishes.
______________________________
She had been a child who played, ate, slept
like any other child – but unlike others,
wept only for pity, laughed
in joy not triumph.
Compassion and intelligence
fused in her, indivisible.
Called to a destiny more momentous
than any in all of Time,
she did not quail,
only asked
a simple, 'How can this be?'
and gravely, courteously,
took to heart the angel’s reply,
perceiving instantly
the astounding ministry she was offered:
to bear in her womb
Infinite weight and lightness; to carry
in hidden, finite inwardness,
nine months of Eternity; to contain
in slender vase of being,
the sum of power –
in narrow flesh,
the sum of light.
Then bring to birth,
push out into air, a Man-child
needing, like any other,
milk and love –
but who was God.

Hail Space for the Uncontained God. …. The words I just spoke were written in the 21st century by poet Denise Levertov—and one could say it was her own response to Parrish’s question to us last week: What is it about the Annunciation- Mary’s encounter with the angel & then ultimately with the Spirit of God- that so enchants—that we so remember Mary’s Magnificant prayer of praise that followed?—that something inside us is struck—and we care.
In today’s sermon, we find ourselves in the same Gospel, that of Luke, the devoted chronicler & supposed physician whose writing is often said to be for a Gentile audience—because he did not use much Semitic language and his gospel unequivocably presents Christianity as an international religion (or, more simply, not just a religion of and for the Jews); he also, perhaps more than any other Gospel writer, holds a special perception for outsiders; in the case of today’s story, Luke illumines the role of women and the elderly.

The Scripture begins, and we see something unique: Although Luke’s Gospel is addressed to a Gentile audience, the Holy Family is seen as distinctly Law-abiding Jews. Also, the setting is the Temple- a significantly Jewish locale, and Joseph, Mary, and the baby Christ are there for the time of purification, according to the Law of Moses- as our New Revised Translation tells us. This “Law of Moses” is detailed in Exodus 13:2 &12 & describes the consecration of the firstborn to the Lord. This reality of the Holy Family as Law-abiding is also mentioned in our Pauline lectionary reading today. Paul tells us, in distinctly authentic Paul-speak, that God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the Law…. However, here is where the magic happens: the result of Christ’s identification with the Law is that the Christ-child then re-translates it. Instead of God’s favor resting with one nation or ethnic identity, as Paul describes and the Letter of Galatians is particularly well-known for describing: God’s grace is with and for all people!
Inclusiveness!!!!
Christ is called Son of God--- meant a closeness--- so close—revealing the poetry of the Incarnation & Levertov’s words: to contain
in slender vase of being,
the sum of power –
in narrow flesh,
the sum of light.

Abba, Father--- Daddy----
In summary- In today’s text from Galatians, we see as children—we move from slaves to heirs! The word slave is hard to stomach—Its cruel history in our context and the reality of its presence even now in other contexts doesn’t lighten the load. And yet, when we see that, in this case, it is the term child lifted up as its contrast—one might begin to wonder: What is so amazing about the child!?! (Repeat)
-------------------------
As I was preparing my sermon, I came across some other insights about our passage in Luke that harken to our other lectionary passage today- the reading from Isaiah—and related:Jewish salvation history.
As well as the temple-setting
2. The allusions to the Hebrew Scriptures--- Scholars observes that the neuter ‘soterion’ (salvation) which is used four times in the New Testament (3 of them in Luke-Acts) is found throughout Isaiah 40-66. Our Isaiah passage today comes from this section of text, specifically chapters 56-66, also known (sometimes) as 3rd Isaiah- believed to have written after the return to the Promised Land. Like Second Isaiah, this part speaks of the hope that God will soon restore Jerusalem to its former glory and make a new home for all peoples. Today’s passage is unique: Celebrative- There is wedding imagery! Agricultural!

My whole being? SOUL

One is drawn to imagine the prophecy as evoking one to action- to remembrance— the potential of the promise! See what our God has done! God can do this for all of us. God answers God’s promises!

This theme of promise-fulfillment is also manifest in Luke 2.
This is the second Temple scene in the Infancy Narrative of Luke. The temple figures prominently in Luke-Acts. It opens and closes the Gospel. By the time Luke composes his gospel though, the temple in Jerusalem stands in ruins after the crushing defeat of the revolution under Titus. Though it has been argued that some temple sacrifices were being offered from 70 C.E. to the final destruction of Jerusalem under Bar Kochba in 135 C.E., Luke’s audience would (likely) have been aware that the temple was no longer the institution it was just decades before. (This makes the theme of promise and fulfillment all the more palpable—!)
At the time of Jesus the temple was one of three pillars upon which Judaism was established (the Torah and the Land being the other two). In our own time, when the remaining ruins of the Temple (the ‘wailing wall’) threaten to crumble, it is difficult to imagine the size and importance of this institution. During times of festal pilgrimage, it could hold between 80-100,000 people (numbers you only see nowadays at a college football game or protest!). The doors to the temple were 80 feet high and took 200 men to open them each morning and close them each night. The creaking of the doors, made of Corinthian bronze, could be heard all around Jerusalem and its environs. The temple served as the depository of the wealth of the rich and powerful. It had its own fortress and complement of Roman soldiers. In it were all the treasures of Jewish history. It was a place of great importance politically, economically and religiously.
It is in this context that two old folks happen upon a couple carrying a child. Luke describes Simeon and Anna in terms that he will use of the early Christian movement: Simeon is “righteous and devout and the Holy Spirit is upon him.” Anna is a prophetess and a long time widow. Both await the fulfillment of the promise to redeem Israel.
In Simeon and Anna, two separate encounters with the Christ child, we begin to glimpse that there is something different—something “amazing” about.! And there is something different about this child! From the text, we gain a few things:
• From Simeon’s renown words that form the “Nunc Dimittis”- we hear that this child, echoing Paul’s theology, is salvation- “prepared in the presence for all peoples”—to enlighten the Gentile as well as for the glory of Israel.
• This child will cause the inner thoughts of many to be revealed.
• And uniquely, from Anna’s encounter with the child, the child becomes the speaking topic to those “looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.”
Potent Stuff.
And in thinking that it would be a small child to symbolize all of these things, our projections and biases about power are challenged and reorganized (A Lord of Hosts (armies) who is a Prince of Peace). Somehow, God has a different idea—and instead, it is a child that functions as a messenger of greater truth…

In thinking more about this personally, I thought more about children and what is unique about them. A few things came to mind:
1) Like Paul’s theology, they don’t see differences between people as aptly as adults often do. ** Ghanaian children (village)
2) They also tend to believe & care deeply. (Bowling alley- Marin)- thank you! In this vein, they are apt to believe that just because something is a certain way-- doesn't mean it should be
3) They also believe in what we adults often call “fairy tales.”—

A Great Example: Nullah in the movie Australia

The whole truth, says Buechner, has to be told "as a tragedy of men and women suffering more than even their own folly and wickedness seem to merit; as comic both in the sense of a terrible funniness and of a happy end to all that is terrible … and as a kind of fairy tale where everybody is disguised as something he [sic!] is not and only at the end are all disguises stripped away so that all are revealed for what they truly are … with the possibility of being turned into human beings."

LOVE




The Chinese Character for LOVE...


Watching the television news or even reading the internet posts following this Holiday season, one can feel particularly inadequate or frenzied: Want to hear the best "wedding proposal" stories of 2008, want to figure out how to shave off those last 15lbs?, know what the new Winter Red Is (Yes, I just completely made up that color... ;) ).... Hmmm--- All this to say, with the advent of all these messages about what should or should not be my resolution this New Years, I think I am going to stick with a simple one: Be Loving. Simple but incredibly Hard. How does one know what is the most loving thing to do? Does being loving intimate that one will find love? How is love given freely? Good questions. I don't have answers. But somehow, one thing I do know: It's a gesture of more restfulness. LOVE. Hope this post fills you with a bit of it. ;)

Riemann Sums Strike Their Head!




Ever since I wrote my undergraduate thesis on Kathleen Norris & Annie Dillard, I have been contemplating their spiritual investigations in light of the calculus theories behind Riemann sums-- I know, pretty nerdy for someone who does even claim to be good at Math! ;) Anyway, I am truly excited, because I am almost finished with Norris's latest book, "Acedia & Me," and she herself mentions Riemann!-- I figured I would share my joy with the Facebook world, most notably my housemates! :)

In Norris' words: "Late one night as we were conversing about such matters at our kitchen table, it occurred to me that what David called 'big numbers' and I called 'angels' might well be the same thing: after following our different paths to get there, we might come around on the circle and meet in the place Keats glimpsed when he equated truth with beauty. David was delighted. I think he would love a simile that seems fitting for our marriage: it was like the differential equations the mathematician Bernhard Riemann insisted he had not invented; he had found them in the universe, where God had hidden them." Kathleen Norris, "Acedia & Me," 255.


-- Hmmmm, this gives me even more to think about concerning my definition of the Gospel-homework....

Owegea

I just found out that where my parents' town sits (kind of my hometown, although it is not Spencer) used to be a Native American village called Owegea--- hence the name of the town: Owego... The Indian village was burned in 1779 (I believe) as a General went through the area to join forces with another army commander.... Talk about a hard reality to consider!!!
I learned this today as I was going on a walk, and it is suddenly explained a lot to me.... I wonder if the earth has fully grieved the tragedy? At any rate, I feel the presence of the Native American sensitivity.... I now understand, in part, why I feel so touched by spirits and the consciousness of Nature's presence when I am home.... I felt this particularly when I was on a run on a farther distant country road last week. The landscape was incredibly bare and the trees were like slender totem poles decorating the horizon.... And I felt this deep sense of familiarity, of being at home. I remembered when I would run on the back roads of Spencer in high school, always running towards the high school building-- it was the goal, the end-point, the finish line; now, I realize, that the finish line is not quite as certain and definite: In fact, it is incredibly more abstract and complicated, and yet I long for it all the more. I long for perfect, present contentment. Perhaps it is the longing that really matters most?

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Santa in India




The more I understand what makes me tick or what gives me incredible joy, I realize that more often than not, I am in the context of some international community. There, in the humid, truly alive streets of Porte Alegre, Brazil or in the moon-rock slopes of Ladakh, India, skipping over the rocks with my Nepali friend, I have felt closer to my soul and spirit and to the all encompassing truth that, as human beings, we will not be truly happy until there is happiness for us all... and that, within one human heart, we uncover the dreaming of the universe; we are not as different as we first might presume-- There is so much more to see than what first meets the eye!

Enjoy!

first sermon this year

This is the text of the first sermon I preached at Alameda Presbyterian Church this year... As the text reveals, I didn't preach everything-- I had far too much material... But what I tried to do and what, I hope, my theological voice enabled was an appreciation of Phil 2 and what art might be gleaned from the often philosophical & heady notion of kenosis...

One of the dangers of this having “an occasional opportunity to preach” is that one faces the temptation to try to say everything one knows (or, perhaps, thinks ones knows) all at once: In this way, I don’t just want to give you a few insights, I want to share with you the whole story of my experience of faith & God-- and all the people and peoples, the events and circumstances, the remembrances, miracles, and mysteries that made it happen. I want you all to come down and sit with me. I would like to order a few lattes and really get the conversation brewing… Or go out and get some pizza, so we can talk theology for the rest of the afternoon. And so yes, this has most certainly been a temptation.
BUT, instead of trying to tell you everything and perhaps even instead of directly trying to tell you anything, my intention today is to share a few stories—with the hope that something therein speaks to you.

And so I am ALSO going to start today’s sermon with perhaps a very unconventional beginning: I give you permission to gently allow your mind, your heart, and your spirit to go to the places it needs to go as I speak today. I hope that some of these places will include a grappling with the specific words I present … but I also think that something of the miracle and goodness of preaching is that it is creative art—some might even call it Incarnational (little sense)…. And the thing about art is that it’s not just about the artist—but those who experience art—those who step back, but this time, NOT limited perhaps by that little museum rope with sigh, saying: You must remain 4 feet away from this piece of beautiful, expensive art: Those who see! And so Come close! Please, feel free to bring your hands (dirty and clean) and get them dirty in the task of open handedly grappling with the ideas presented or, for you, connoted and brought to mind! This sermon is my little big task of listening and then being given the abundant privilege of sharing with you all what I have heard. But, by the end of today’s words (sermon), it is not simply my hearing that is important—but yours. So let this be a space—a place—where the Holy comes—and hence where God speaks to you.
Taking the Plunge: Looking at Light; Contemplating a Kenotic God
When I was a kid and even up to my middle teens, I was scared of water. Now before you imagine this in the silly way of (holding up water)- “Oh, Elizabeth—you’re scared of this”- let me frame it in this way: I wasn’t afraid so much of water as that moment of going under—of taking the plunge into the unknown world of everything that lie just under the surface of the tide. In thinking about it today, I realize that a lot of my fear probably stems from my physical breathing limitations. I have a reduced lung capacity—and even though it hasn’t kept me from playing the saxophone or running a race—it has notably impacted my ability to feel safe, holding my breath under the water. Underneath the waves, I grapple with the thickness of this unbreathable substance and somehow the margin of error seems greater—When playing my saxophone or running a race, one can always stop and take a breath—Swimming feels harder—In fact, when I looked at swimmers on television—effortlessly hurling themselves through the waves (Think David Phelps!), I could never see them looking up, cocking and tilting their heads to take a breath. Hmmm--- but upon further investigation, at looking closer, one sees that swimmers do make space and time to breathe: They have to; It’s part of the process. But, when I imagined the act of swimming, I never saw this. Truth be told, I simply needed more imagination as well as the willingness to stop and really see. I needed a paradigm change.
I think about my fear of water, and although it might be too easy to draw parallels, I am set, at least for a few moments, to considering my own vocational and career discernment (Note: water analogy will come later!). I remember the first time I thought about being a minister (which I’m still discerning). I was 14 years old, and I went into my pastor’s office and was talking with him about life. This was not unusual. We had something of a mentoring relationship, in which I would often meet with him, ask him for his interpretation of particular poems I had read: “Pastor Huth, what do you think about this???---- OR--- I remember describing my unease at classroom dynamics when a substitute teacher would come, and it seemed that the whole classroom day was designed around: How much can we get away with—and I would relate to him these enormously sensitive chronicles about how I couldn’t understand why we acted so differently when subs came. Given certain realities of the human condition… one of them being: “Impress the Pastor”-- someone might wonder: Wow, Elizabeth… Were you one of those traditional do-gooding youngsters, looking for affirmation and therein—a sense of self. And I would say no--- there, in the light of his office (whether spiritual or projected), I had this safe space to really question the way the world was and why we did what we did. And yes, the question with substitute teachers always bothered me, because, first of all, I liked routine, and so I didn’t like the chaos that erupted when the normal classroom teacher and his or her expectations were gone.. But also, because, I had this undeniable sense that this ganging up on the often more passive or gentle substitute teacher was wrong. My empathy was with her. It was during one of our conversations that my Pastor asked me, “What do you want to do with your life.” And, at 14 I told him: Ah, I want to pursue goodness. He told me to consider being a pastor, and—even though I’ve sometimes kicked and screamed (metaphorically)—I haven’t looked back. Somehow I want to take the plunge into ministry, but there’s also this part of me—this part that won’t go down into the waves easily—and it wonders: Well, but what does this mean” What kind of minister would I be? What paradigms would I have to change or seen changed in my own imagination before I could be comfortable with such a title.

For me, this takes us, in part, to the Scriptures in today’s lectionary. First, there is Phil 2—known for its famous “kenotic” formulation. Kenosis refers to the way in which Jesus is described as “emptying” himself—From this concept of kenosis, many interesting and truly amazing theological concepts have emerged—drawing us, compelling us, and persuading us to consider our God images and what way they speak of a God who would chose this emptying path…. Who, as Rose Powell mentioned at Light youth group on Wednesday: a God who was willing to die to set things right. (Put an end to violence!!!!!)

From these verses in Phil 2, we abstract many important ideas and questions. We are drawn into theological debates about creation, about Christ’s relationship to the Creator God, and to our own ethical-oriented, life response to all of this---- When I think of Kenosis, I am reminded of a very specific idea: Before Christ came to Earth and God revealed Godself through Jesus as One who comes to the least of these, to the so-called sick, to the needy and poor—people of the ancient world imagined God as everything different from themselves: God was omnipotent, omnipresent, away—away—away (perhaps some might even say—safely away in abstraction)--- but then, God makes this kenotic move (Jesus comes to earth) and chooses to reveal the divine nature in such a way that culture and norms are questioned-- quick descriptions and socially conditioned definitions of what is good, successful, proper & powerful are reversed. Here’s our paradigm change: The last will be first and the first will be last. Love Your Neighbor as You Love Yourself. "You have heard it said, ' love your friends, hate your enemies.' But now i tell you : love your enemies and pray for those who presecute you Blessed are the poor in Spirit (Luke: poor)…. (This might be particularly hard to hear—Financial situation- My bank was bought up)…. In short, the Incarnation reveals a new politic, a new Kingdom or Presidency—but this time, (not to disparage politics- they are necessary) we’re not talking about John McCain’s or Barack Obama’s notion—we see a very different one: The Kingdom of God where all the vineyard workers are paid a fair wage, where tax collectors, prostitutes, and children have the inside perspective that the older, established Jewish elites (Pharisee) attempt to claim for their own, and where a poor man named Lazarus is given a name and thus an identity, subjectivity, & hope. Namely, power is re-defined & re-claimed.
The Interpreter’s Bible Commentary on Philippians explains the Kenotic miracle in this way:
** The enduring supremacy of Christ’s revelation (of this emptying of himself) will not depend on the support of theologians or the vote of the churches. It will rest on the simple fact that to the end of time no one can show any power other than the love that swooped to earth in Christ, which can win over our human spirits from enslavement to self (or, as other theologians have shared: self-effacement). This power unto salvation contradicted all the expectations of authorities, religious and secular, in Jesus’ own day. And it will forever contradict every way of imposing on the human will from outside which tries to supplant this inside persuasion and constraint. Nothing else can save humanity from itself and at the same time leave a person his/her freedom.”
“All kinds of saviors will promise to change the world from outside,” the Commentary continues, “and they can bestow certain external benefits; but at long last, [individuals] must be freely won away from self if [they are] to know the true ‘liberty of the children of God.’” 52. I would add to this usage of the word self here, a kind of concept of fearful individualism—The self is not free when it thinks it needs all the answers--- when it is too busy trying to fit in or gain just a bit of power—that is trods over another—as in my sub. Teacher ex.
The Interpreter’s Commentary then helps to clarify my clarification, stating, again about
Phil 2 “Here Paul holds up a contrasted figure who, with the nature of God, became a servant to the lowliest on earth, whom we would consider beneath us and who, by enduring all that the typical sins of men can do, revealed how respectable people (with whom we would feel quite at home) may be the chief enemies of the living God who seeks their liberation.
The thing to do with a picture is not to analyze it, but to let it talk, as Paul wanted it to talk to those in Phillipi who were exalting themselves. (GIVE some SPACE)--- I will:

It suggests that God the Creator, who ‘eternally gives Godself that we might exist,’ has had in nature from all eternity this outgoing, self-giving disposition of mind; which became visible by one supreme revelation in Christ, reaching down to individuals in order to lift each one out of self into a new union with the selfless life of God, for which our spirit was created (When I say selfless- I do not know mean without our uniqueness- but like at the beginning of Phil 2—harmony & non-violence!) Once this revelation was made in a deed, there was nothing more that could be added to it.---
In other words, Christ says, on the cross,

It is finished of Jesus: he means it.


I was able to attend a conference at the seminary this weekend. A number of amazing theologians came, including a very well-known one, a French man named Rene Girard. Rene made his academic career describing the ways in which violence so often enters into religion and showing how we can reverse this (which I described above)---

Rene, who is now in his mid-80’s, spoke with great wisdom and simple eloquence about Jesus, whose violent death, launches a new truth (light)--- He would go perhaps even so far as to say that this truth is now hidden and revealed in our human consciousness--- We have seen truth—and it was captured in the loving kenosis movement--- so much, that – although we might not consciously recognize it--- It is not those who come with great power as it is traditionally defined that truly captivate us--- We know the falsehood of manipulation – of power that overpowers rather than empowers.


In our Gospel lesson,
Sanhedrin now directly challenge Jesus (By what authority are you doing these things).
Claim: These things refer to Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple—They wanted him to claim Kingship, for they knew that Rome would deal with that claim. Perhaps they hoped he would claim messiahship—this they could denounce as blaphemsy. – with some support from the crowd (those who only saw him as a prophet).

He was proclaiming truth. He both refrained from a claim and made a claim.
There are striking meanings& suggestions here: “Jesus said in effect that when truth is spoken, it rings on the conscience as a true coin rings on stone. Like light, it needs no validation: light is its own evidence. If we tried to prove light by anything beyond itself, we would have to use light for the proof. Thus, every person has the primal gift to recognize truth. “

And we? If only we could face the light----

Talking about Light, I have begun thinking a lot about the brilliance of this name for our church youth group.

Light—When I realize that I need to empty myself—of my agenda… even my own theology. SO that it can be a space for the light can be shown--- where we as young men and women can look and confront truth

So—what does all of this leave us: A kenotic God?—Our ability to recognize truth, a God revealed through Jesus whose power politic (or way of being) is strikingly different from the politics of the world?

How can we reach out?!

I have a few thoughts:

Let’s trust, for instance, that when we speak of God as Christians we are not talking about the God who has often been presented in history or media as the judging Parent Figure who acts in the world as a great emperor would—using power to advantage, diminishing free will.

We speak of a God instead who has taken the plunge with us—shown us the way… And I allow your minds and consciences to add to this description---
Let’s also trust the important role of community… the purpose of the church. Barbara Brown Taylor writes: (struggling with her vocation as a pastor)--- She sees congregation members being playfully pushed into a swimming pool during an outdoor party. Others had already gone in, both kids and adults, and Taylor wished that she, too, would be shoved in as one of the gang. (as a teen, I would not have this wish but now)--

“Whatever changes were occurring inside of me, I still looked waterproof to them,” she worries, while standing there as an observer. But then, she feels two hands on her shoulder, and in she goes with the others.

“I never found out who my savior (the one who threw her in) was, but when I broke the surface, I looked around at all of those shining people with makeup running down their cheeks, with hair plastered to their heads, and I was so happy to be one of them. If being ordained meant being set apart from them, then I did not want to be ordained anymore. I wanted to be human. I wanted to spit good and let snot run down my chin. I wanted to confess being as lost and found as anyone else without caring that my underwear showed through my wet clothes. Bobbing in that healing pool with all those other flawed beings of light, I looked around and saw them as I had never seen them before, while some of them looked at me the same way. The long wait had come to an end. I was in the water at last.”

Brothers and Sisters: We don’t have a waterproof God. Our God has come to earth, taken the plunge, and in so doing revealed a new way of being: a light of truth about what life is really about—Instead of manipulating, mediating, instead of hating, loving, -- and so, let us remember this (as it already dances within our consciousness): Our God’s Upward way is not one of “us” versus “them”—of separating, overpowering, persecution or violence. Our God would not say: You are not good enough-- Our God of the Upward Way reminds us of the beauty and power of a way where upward does not mean HIERARCHY- or good, better, and best ----- but I have come close to you, in the person of Jesus, to love you. And it is not a wimpy or weak love--- But a love that changed the world.
Let us take the plunge, lay aside our fear, and know that this, our news… is truly GOOD! AMEN

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Today

Today, I have found myself thinking a number of things: First and foremost about technology... As I have been enjoying my slumber-filled time at home, I have seen how much energy I have used "poking" around Facebook.... It has been truly wonderful, really-- getting to catch up with folks, even if only through the streams of the internet, and seeing what is new-- and yet, too, there is something unfortunate about how much of life can be spent near a computer.... Where is the present moment--- as we busily text message, change our status, and chat... I am certainly not poo-pooing technology. I love it as much as I loathe it-- and my family will be the first to say that I also utilize it-- :) and yet, I sometimes feel bombarded with that wonderful hopefulness I use to feel when I would check the mailbox and see if I had a letter-- But that was confined to one moment of one day... Now, I can hope for such moments at all times... and yet, at the same measure, with such hope comes equally dissatisfaction..... All of these reinforces for me the unique gift of the present moment... and so instead of constantly checking my e-mail, I have been switching to other avenues: listening to Taize podcasts, Bach's cello suites, and the latest Vienna Teng song.... This has been more blissful.

2. Joyce Carol Oates writes: "Although we 'know' better, we tend to 'feel' symbolically."

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Inspiring Things to Do (One a Day from January 30-April 4)

1 -- Today, I will reflect on what peace means to me.
2 -- Today, I will look at opportunities to be a peacemaker.
3 -- Today, I will practice nonviolence and respect for Mother Earth by making good use of her resources.
4 -- Today, I will take time to admire and appreciate nature.
5 -- Today, I will plant seeds--plants or constructive ideas.
6 -- Today, I will hold a vision of plenty for all the world's hungry and be open to guidance as to how I can help alleviate some of that hunger.
7 -- Today, I will acknowledge every human being's fundamental right to justice, equity, and equality.
8 -- Today, I will appreciate the earth's bounty and all of those who work to make my food available (i.e., grower, trucker, grocery clerk, cook, waitress, etc.)
9 -- Today, I will work to understand and respect another culture.
10 -- Today, I will oppose injustice, not people.
11 -- Today, I will look beyond stereotypes and prejudices.
12 -- Today, I will choose to be aware of what I talk about and I will refuse to gossip.
13 -- Today, I will live in the present moment and release the past.
14 -- Today, I will silently acknowledge all the leaders throughout the world.
15 -- Today, I will speak with kindness, respect, and patience to every person that I talk with on the telephone.
16 -- Today, I will affirm my value and worth with positive "self talk" and refuse to put myself down.
17 -- Today, I will tell the truth and speak honestly from the heart.
18 -- Today, I will cause a ripple effect of good by an act of kindness toward another.
19 -- Today, I will choose to use my talents to serve others by volunteering a portion of my time.
20 -- Today, I will say a blessing for greater understanding whenever I see evidence of crime, vandalism, or graffiti.
21 -- Today, I will say "No" to ideas or actions that violate me or others.
22 -- Today, I will turn off anything that portrays or supports violence whether on television, in the movies, or on the Internet.
23 -- Today, I will greet this day--everyone and everything--with openness and acceptance as if I were encountering them for the first time.
24 -- Today, I will drive with tolerance and patience.
25 -- Today, I will constructively channel my anger, frustration, or jealousy into healthy physical activities (i.e., doing sit-ups, picking up trash, taking a walk, etc).
26 -- Today, I will take time to appreciate the people who provide me with challenges in my life, especially those who make me angry or frustrated.
27 -- Today, I will talk less and listen more.
28 -- Today, I will notice the peacefulness in the world around me.
29 -- Today, I will recognize that my actions directly affect others.
30 -- Today, I will take time to tell a family member or friend how much they mean to me.
31 -- Today, I will acknowledge and thank someone for acting kindly.
32 -- Today, I will send a kind, anonymous message to someone.
33 -- Today, I will identify something special in everyone I meet.
34 -- Today, I will discuss ideas about nonviolence with a friend to gain new perspectives.
35 -- Today, I will practice praise rather than criticism.
36 -- Today, I will strive to learn from my mistakes.
37 -- Today, I will tell at least one person they are special and important.
38 -- Today, I will hold children tenderly in thought and/or action.
39 -- Today, I will listen without defending and speak without judgment.
40 -- Today, I will help someone in trouble.
41 -- Today, I will listen with an open heart to at least one person.
42 -- Today, I will treat the elderly I encounter with respect and dignity.
43 -- Today, I will treat the children I encounter with respect and care, knowing that I serve as a model to them.
44 -- Today, I will see my so-workers in a new light--with understanding and
compassion.
45 -- Today, I will be open to other ways of thinking and acting that are different from my own.
46 -- Today, I will think of at least three alternate ways I can handle a situation when confronted with conflict.
47 -- Today, I will work to help others resolve differences.
48 -- Today, I will express my feeling honestly and nonviolently with respect for myself and others.
49 -- Today, I will sit down with my family for one meal.
50 -- Today, I will set an example of a peacemaker by promoting nonviolent responses.
51 -- Today, I will use no violent language.
52 -- Today, I will pause for reflection.
53 -- Today, I will hold no one hostage to the past, seeing each-as I see myself-as a work in process.
54 -- Today, I will make a conscious effort to smile at someone whom I have held a grudge against in the past.
55 -- Today, I will practice compassion and forgiveness by apologizing to someone whom I have hurt in the past.
56 -- Today, I will reflect on whom I need to forgive and take at least one step in that direction.
57 -- Today, I will forgive myself.
58 -- Today, I will embrace the spiritual belief of my heart in my own personal and reflective way.
59 -- Today, I will enlarge my capacity to embrace differences and appreciate the value of every human being.
60 -- Today, I will be compassionate in my thoughts, words, and actions.
61 -- Today, I will cultivate my moral strength and courage through education and creative nonviolent action.
62 -- Today, I will practice compassion and forgiveness for myself and others.
63 -- Today, I will use my talents to serve others as well as myself.
64 -- Today, I will serve humanity by dedicating myself to a vision greater than myself.

A Post to Prompt!

Well.... as all writing has its muse... whether it be simply that gentle, short, epiphanic moment of knowing: "This is it-- This is what I have been striving all my life to attain" -- This kind of thought that stays with you for awhile and then flutters away, ever so wonderfully, ever so livingly.... So I thought it apt to include some poetry here that has nothing to do with me .. in the sense that I did not write it-- but then, as we all know, this does not really define any significant distinction of difference: As we all know, sure- I did not write these words, but they seal and shimmer for me in a way that I feel that you, the author, simply awaken a truth that I already know to be true--- within... So it is with writing... And so, as I almost started to begin to say, before I found a moment of inspiration and needed to expand upon it: I want to include some poetry here now... I did not write these words... but thanks be to God-- they do inspire me to write some of my own!

Luke
I had a dog
who loved flowers.
Briskly she went
through the fields.
yet paused for the honeysuckle
or the rose,
her dark head

and her wet nose
touching
the face
of every one

with its petals
of silk
with its fragrance,
rising

into the air,
where the bees,
their bodies
heavy with pollen,

hovered--
and easily,
she adored
every blossom,
not in the serious
careful way that we choose
this blossom or that blossom--

the way we praise or don't praise--
the way we love
or don't love--
but the way

we long to be--
that happy
in the heaven of earth-
that wild, that loving....

Mary Oliver

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

The Intention of this Blog...

Life is intensely beautiful; there is so much to reflect & muse upon. Walking across my seminary campus or trudging across the snow-laden sidewalks of Upstate New York, story ideas come to me continuously..... Rather than fight against the muses therefore, I have decided to oblige them. This space is a forum for personal but public reflection, where I will share expanding and developing story ideas as well as reflect upon my life. Feel free to provide comments.....

lovingly,
Elizabeth