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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



Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Be an epiphany


The way to any universal idea is to proceed through a concrete encounter.  There are a number of ways to say the same thing:  The one is the way to the many, the specific is the way to the spacious, the now is the way to the always, the here is the way to everywhere, the material is the way to the spiritual, the visible is the way to the invisible… we live in a fully sacramental universe, where everything is a pointer and an epiphany….
                                                                        Richard Rohr
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How do we find the Sacred?
How do we find meaning, or peace, or hope?
How do we find love?

Sometimes it feels as if we must somehow transcend this present moment
that we must leave this particular moment behind,
lose ourselves in mystery
to connect with such deep realities

and yet
and yet

perhaps we have it all wrong

Perhaps the answers are not hidden
up there, out there, beyond the stars.

Perhaps the answers are right in front of us
in a child at play
in a stormy fall morning,
in the touch of a hand

the material is the way to the spiritual
the visible is the way to the invisible
everything is a pointer and an epiphany

Jesus was a pointer to the Sacred
An act of kindness a pointer to love
A fall leaf, painted orange and red, a pointer to Sacred creativity

I need to see Sacred everywhere
In everything
In everyone

But more, I need to understand the profound fact,
that I too am a pointer
and that people need to see the Sacred in me
in the way I laugh, play, serve, forgive, give
in the way I love

It is difficult in these times
when we all feel so powerless
to remember the “Scandal of the Particular” (Walter Brueggemman)

that this is how God has always worked
through Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, Jesus, Peter, Paul

and now

through you and me

may our lives be a pointer
and an epiphany

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