The sun has set and the Vesper Lights flicker and glow
It had been a day of hurrying and scurrying
Packing and preparation for Colorado Presbyterian Pilgrimage’s Jubilee weekend
Notes to write and meditations/talks to prepare
Dear Stella will spend the weekend at the Bed and Biscuit Inn
We will also have dinner on Thursday with our dear “adopted” daughter Erin in Denver
In the midst of it all I am thankful
Thankful for moments of stillness
Thankful as well for Sister Moon’s presence
Now as my eyelids grow heavy
I lift this humble prayer to you
Dona Nobis Pacem
Grant Us Peace
A wee prayer from the heart of your Padre…
“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—
and there was no one left to speak for me.”
—Martin Niemöller
“Domination always entails more than injustice. It wounds—and it intends to wound—the very soul itself.”—Walter Wink
This year is one of those rare times when Pesach (Passover), Easter, and Ramadan intersect. Thanks to my own experiences in interfaith dialogue and community in the military and outside of the military I am blessed with a wide variety of friends and colleagues who are a part of the Abrahamic family of faith. Through those relationships, my own faith life has grown a lot. Thus an occurrence such as this is a blessing for me as I think of and pray with/for my siblings across the globe.
One of my responsibilities as a USAF chaplain was to provide for the free exercise of religion of all military and civilian personnel and their families. For me, it was more than a Constitutional requirement, it was a way of expressing my own faith which was and is rooted and grounded in love.
In an age where religion and politics seek division through fear and hatred, standing in solidarity with my siblings isn’t always seen as “good” by some folks. Where some create fear-based division, I see opportunities for growth and learning based on what we hold in common. By sharing our stories, listening (really listening, not preparing your counter-point while the other is talking) to each other, learning from each other, and growing together in love and peace, unity can arise. Unity based on love and seeking peace builds community. Thomas Merton wrote about such unity in a letter that is found in the book, The Hidden Ground of Love: Letters.
The deepest level of communication is not communication, but communion. It is wordless. It is beyond words, and it is beyond speech, and it is beyond concept. Not that we discover a new unity. We discover an older unity. My dear Brothers, we are already one. But we imagine that we are not. And what we have to recover is our original unity. What we have to be is what we are. — Thomas Merton
As holy days intersect, my prayer is that we will come to the realization that we are already one. And in that unity, may we work together for Shalom… Salam.. Peace…
Here is a musical interpretation of Merton’s words offered by Alana Levandoski with a reading by one of Merton’s novices, James Finley. What We Are
“We have given corporations dominion over the sustaining of our lives. . . . They shape our thoughts and our language. They create the images and metaphors of our time, which our children use to define their world and their lives. In other words: what corporations do well, what corporations are designed to be, is the problem.”—Richard Grossman
What keeps us from opening to the reality of the world? Could it be that we cannot accept our powerlessness and are only willing to see those wounds that we can heal? Could it be that we do not want to give up our illusion that we are masters over our world and, therefore, create our own Disneyland where we can make ourselves believe that all events of life are safely under control? Could it be that our blindness and deafness are signs of our own resistance to acknowledging that we are not the Lord of the Universe? It is hard to allow these questions to go beyond the level of rhetoric and to really sense in our innermost self how much we resent our powerlessness. . . .
The astonishing thing is that the battle for survival has become so “normal” that few people really believe that it can be different. . . . Oh, how important is discipline, community, prayer, silence, caring presence, simple listening, adoration, and deep, lasting faithful friendship. We all want it so much, and still the powers suggesting that all of that is fantasy are enormous. But we have to replace the battle for power with the battle to create space for the spirit.
“The breath teaches us … to learn to solo-task, to focus on what is at hand, to slow down, and the breath can help us with this.”
— Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, Sacred Time: Embracing an Intentional Way of Life
What happens when you pause and awaken to your breath in this moment?
“Before he dies, Jesus turns to his mother and John and calls on them to care for one another. . . . It’s a very touching moment that even while dying in agony upon the cross, Jesus is thinking and caring for others. {John 19: 25-27}.”
— John Valters Paintner, MTS, Watershed Moments in the Hebrew & Christian Scriptures: An Online, Self-Study Retreat
Whom do you care for?
Verse of the day
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.
– Psalm 46:11
Voice of the day
The God we yearn to know more deeply is the God of Jesus, the God of the prophets, the God of the two testaments—a gracious, loving Creator, a God of shalom and justice, a God who intervenes in our history, who shatters the weapons of war and foils the power of nations and empires.
– Will O’Brien, “Be Still and Know”
Prayer of the day
May we be gracious and loving, seeking justice on our way to discovering who you are.
“Thresholds are liminal times when the past season has come to a close but there is a profound unknowing of what will come next.”
— Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, The Soul’s Slow Ripening: 12 Celtic Practices for Seeking the Sacred
When have you been in a threshold space in your life? What did you learn? Are you there now?
Pastor Michael Moore's Blog 