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Primitive religion is not believed, it is danced!

Arthur Darby Nock

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
And only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

Elizabeth Browning



Thursday, May 19, 2016

Crash course in love

Isn't it instructive that the spiritual formation of the original disciples happens with Jesus on the road? In effect, the disciples learn by doing. They grow into an understanding of this God of love, this God of compassion, this God who loves justice, this God who makes all things new, by participating as active observers and agents of compassion, justice, and newness. And, yes, necessarily, they pause with Jesus to reflect, ask questions (sometimes stupid questions), and pray. But the spiritual adventure described in the four Gospels does not happen in the sanctuary; it happens on the road, in the company of beggars, prostitutes, and lepers.
                                                                                      Richard Rohr
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every day
is a crash course in love

after we
who would be connected with something Sacred
have practiced our spirituality

after the prayers have been prayed
the metta phrases spoken
the deep breaths taken

after the sacred texts have been perused

we must
one way or another
hit the road

and on that road
or so it seems to me
we have one primary agenda

to live love

to think love
carry love
practice love
be love

it is not easy

for there are other people on that road

some we find easy to love
but others?
not so much

that person whose political views are antithetical to ours,
that one whose skin is a different color,
whose religion is different than ours

that person who has hurt us
insulted us
said negative things about us

that person we know just simply doesn’t like us

most of us do not run into lepers
but our society has “lepers” of its own making
people from the LBGTQI community
people with mental illness
or addiction

then there are the poor
the homeless
those “lazy moochers”
who just need to “get off their asses” and get to work!

and when we meet these people
we are called by one who is Love
to think love
and live love

and it is not easy

sometimes we are just too wrapped up in ourselves
and our own agendas, our own needs
sometimes too fearful, too angry

and yet there on the road
in the dust
on the hard pavement
in the grocery store
in our places of work
(on Facebook?)

that where is our adventure with the Sacred is to lived out
that is where we really learn
about how we are loved by God
and about how to love others!

have a good day in school!

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