“Each one of us carries grief, sorrow that has perhaps gone unexpressed or been stifled or numbed. Each of us has been touched by pain and suffering at some time.”
— Christine Valters Paintner, PhD The Online Self-Study Retreat ~ A Midwinter God: Making a Conscious Underworld Journey
What is the sorrow you carry with you today?
Verse of the day
Depart from evil, and do good; so you shall abide forever. – Psalm 37:27
Voice of the day
Romans 12:21 exhorts us that rather than being overcome by evil, we should overcome evil with good. My hope and prayer is that we accomplish this not through force of arms, but by building a better world. – Simon Oh, “‘This Was Terror’— What I Saw on Sept. 11”
Prayer of the day
God of all people, / teach us to be patriotic, but humbly so. / Teach us to see the frailty, beauty, and value of life / in light of this tragedy / rather than using it to elevate / trivial difference to the heights of / divisive reasons for hatred. – Mark Sandlin, “A Prayer for the Anniversary of 9/11”
“Forgiveness is what love looks like in an imperfect world populated by imperfect people.”
A wonderful thought to consider as a new week begins. 💖
“Your actions matter. No action or voice is too small to make a difference.”—Vanessa Nakate, Ugandan Climate Activist
“We don’t know what the future will hold, but we believe that nonviolence is a force more powerful. And, we know nonviolence is both an effective tool to create real and lasting social change as well as a way of life.”—David Hart
“Without an ethic of love shaping the direction of our political vision and our radical aspirations, we are often seduced, in one way or the other, into continued allegiance to systems of domination.”—bell hooks
“One of the most important things I think I can teach is learning to make space to listen to your own deepest longings and begin to trust those more.”
— Christine Valters Paintner, PhD Eyes of the Heart: Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice
How do you make space to listen to your own deepest longings?
Join our upcoming Eyes of the Heart community retreat October 9 – December 2, 2023
“By aligning ourselves with the rhythms of the seasons, we connect to something much larger than simply us. We experience a cohesion of time between us and our community, which includes the wider community of nature and creation.”
— Christine Valters Paintner, PhD Sacred Time: Embracing an Intentional Way of Life
How might you align yourself with the rhythms of the hours, days, and seasons, and in the process connect with something larger than yourself?
To register for the self-study companion retreat to the book with extra resources and guidance click here>>
Verse of the day
Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
– James 5:4
Voice of the day
Instead of justifying forced labor like the exploitative gods of Egypt and the United States, the God of the Bible pushes us all to labor for justice as we take responsibility to care for the world and our fellow human beings.
– Adam Ericksen, “A Theology of Labor”
Prayer of the day
“May God guide our nation in creating a more just economy that truly honors the dignity of work and the rights of workers.”
– Bishop Blaire, “A Labor Day Prayer”
“As you come to know the seriousness of our situation—the war, the racism, the poverty in the world—you come to realize it is not going to be changed just by words or demonstrations. It’s a question of risking your life. It’s a question of living your life in a drastically different way.”—Dorothy Day
Pastor Michael Moore's Blog 