This stops here!

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Any God who would wander into the human condition, any God who has this thirst to pursue us, had better not be too put off by pain, for that's the way we tend to treat our saviors. Any God who tries to love us had better be ready to die for it.

William Willimon

____________________________________________________________

Sometimes it seems

as if hate is going to win

as if all that is right

all that is good

is coming to an end

 

as on that Friday so long ago

when in the heat of the afternoon

jeers echoed

lashes fell

thorns pierced

hammer blows reverberated

and love took its last breath

 

or did it?

 

perhaps love is made of tougher stuff

perhaps

just perhaps

on that day

God looked in the face of hatred

and brutality

into the face of judgement and rejection

into the face of power and wealth

 

and said

“This Stops Here”

 

and that is why we call it

Good

 

Doomscrolling or hopequesting

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You’re not doomscrolling, you’re hopequesting. You need those tiny pieces of joy from seeing friends and strangers share their art, their good news, their wacky, unique selves. We need light to live. And we find it in each other.”

          Aaron Corwin

 

We thank You, our Creator, for all things bright and good:

The seedtime and the harvest, our life, our health, our food.

Accept the gifts we offer for all Your love imparts;

Accept what You most welcome: our humble, thankful hearts!

All good gifts around us are sent from heav’n above;

Then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord for all His love.

          Matthias Claudius

 

__________________________________________

 

It all depends on what you look for.

True

There is a lot out there that is dark and evil

There are liars in high places

And people who worship money rather than God

 

But we still live on a planet that was God’s first act of incarnation

We still get to see what God is like in Jesus

We still get to experience God all the time

God is around us, with us, and in us.

 

We carry the Sacred

It is woven into our being

We are Sacred children

 

 God is waiting to be found everywhere,

In the darkest corners of our lives,

In the thoughts that wake us in the night

In the brilliant final blast of a sunset

In a random act of kindness

In that rare Facebook post that celebrates kindness

 

 

We find what we seek.

If we look for evil, we find it every time

If we look for what is good, it comes sneaking out of the mundane

 

In the simplest, lightest moments

in the little graces along the way.

 

God is there, he's waiting

in quite obvious and visible places,

wanting to be found

 

When we look for evil, we descend into the house of fear

And live amidst fear and hate

In a place of violence

 

When we look for good, we ascend into

That place where love dwells

And we are permeated with love

 

Transformed

Part of the ongoing incarnation

Of Sacred

 

Then, what we see,

What we think,

Will bear the fruit of gratitude

And hope

 

And seeing the world differently

Through the eyes of grace

We begin, at last

To reflect the divine image

In how we live and breathe and have our being

 

So the question remains.

What do we choose to look for

This day?

 

 

A Macabre Intimacy

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As long as we continue to live as if we are what we do, what we have, and what other people think about us, we will remain filled with judgments, opinions, evaluations, and condemnations. We will remain addicted to putting people and things in their "right" place.

― Henri J.M. Nouwen

 

____________________________________________________________

 

We are often woven together

in macabre intimacy

which drives us into a rigid world

of judgment

and condemnation

 

A world of “us” and “them,”

“win” or “lose,”

“right” or “wrong.”

 

O Sacred one,

you showed us how to live

what it means to be truly human,

how to reflect your image

through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

 

Jesus was not defined by what he had (not much)

the labels he carried (Rabbi)

his ethnicity or race

not even his gender

 

Jesus was defined by the way he loved

And by love alone

 

He did not worry about what people thought about him.

He merely lived out his calling to be

Light, Salt,

God with us

 

Jesus was not blind to the ills of the world

or the weaknesses of others

But he saw more

much more

 

When he looked at people,

he saw not only the failure, but the promise

not only the darkness but the light

not only the human container

(which is why adjectives were not important to him)

 

but also the sacred seed

 

He saw children of God

All beloved

It was not his goal to be “right” while they were wrong.

He simply wanted to be present,

and by his loving presence

transform and heal

and create newness

 

O God

Forgive us for our need to be right

Forgive us for those times when we get hung up on he adjectives

Black, white, male, female, conservative, liberal, American, Iranian

 

Help us to see the Sacred in others

So that the Spirit in us can greet the Spirit in them

Namaste

Shalom

Yo

Saol

 

Do not let us use the wrong things to define ourselves or others

Help us to be present

To be open

To honor and respect

To welcome

To be kind

 

And be

a reflection of your love