Verse of the day
They have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace.
– Jeremiah 6:14
Voice of the day
[W]e should remain faithful in proclaiming that wars never win, in the end, and that Christ’s resurrection demonstrates how violence is all, ultimately, undone by the power of God’s love.
– Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, “Putin’s Religious Vision Underscores the Danger of Christian Nationalism”
Prayer of the day
May we seek true peace through the power of your love.
A powerful reflection and call to prayer/action…
President Vladimir Putin’s announcement on Sunday that he had ordered Russian nuclear forces to high alert (he called it a “special mode of combat duty”) brought to mind some of the most dangerous days of Cold War brinkmanship.
— Read on sojo.net/articles/nuclear-war-cannot-be-won-and-must-never-be-fought
“What happens to the outer world happens to the inner world. If the outer world is diminished in its grandeur then the emotional, imaginative, intellectual and spiritual life of the human is diminished or extinguished. We are all cousins to each other.”—Thomas Berry
Verse of the day
Shout out, do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
– Isaiah 58:1
Voice of the day
We must believe in the power and strength of our words. Our words can change the world.
– Malala Yousafzai
Prayer of the day
Let us trust in the power of speaking out. Dear God, help us to be holy disrupters.
This is an unusual Ash Wednesday and Lenten season for me. For nearly thirty-five years I have always been knee deep in planning worship offerings for Lent. From Minnesota to Abu Dhabi and England and in so many states in the US, it has always been a busy season.
This Lenten season will be a time of Sabbath rest, healing, and renewal. It will been a time to slow down and absorb all that the season has to offer. It will be a time to simply be still.
Even though the past fortnight has been a time of cloudy skies, rain, and cold temperatures in Georgia, Alabama, and Minnesota, today is different. Yesterday and today have been remarkable with the sun shining, birds singing, Canada geese honking, and plants showing signs of new growth. Yes, the beauty of Spring is upon us. Yesterday’s reading from Thomas Merton’s journal spoke to my heart of the joy and beauty of Spring that he experienced at his hermitage.
Yesterday—more truly spring, and this is a spring dawn today, cold, but with birds singing. First time I have heard the whistling of the towhee this year. And the cardinals up in the woods to the west. The promise grows more and more definite. March 2, 1966 from Learning to Love: The Journals of Thomas Merton [Volume Six 1966-1967]
Merton would have been used to the traditional Lenten calendar at the monastery in a way that would be similar to my own experience. One of the reasons I appreciate this particular entry is how Merton stopped in the midst of his monastic daily calendar so that he could simply be still in God’s presence.
As Denise and I continue our time of Sabbath rest during this unusual Lenten season, my prayer is that our hearts and our spirits will be open to all the wonder and awe found in God’s creation.
“The individual has to wake up to the fact that violence cannot end violence; that only understanding and compassion can neutralize violence, because with the practice of loving speech and compassionate listening we can begin to understand people and help people to remove the wrong perceptions in them, because these wrong perceptions are at the foundation of their anger, their fear, their violence, their hate.”—Thich Nhat Hanh
“(The Early Church Community) was a community fully alive in the exploration of the meaning of genuine inner power (dunamis) and genuine socially sanctioned power (exousia); a church exploring the meaning of holy disobedience.”—Leonard Desroches
Verse of the day
“Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.”
– Psalm 46:10
Voice of the day
Solitude with God repairs the damage done by the fret and noise and clamour of the world.
– Oswald Chambers, Christian Disciplines, Volume 2 (1965)
Prayer of the day
In this clamorous life, may we find refreshment and peace in you.
If you were to ask me point-blank: “What does it mean to you to live spiritually?” I would have to reply: “Living with Jesus at the center.” . . . When I look back over the last thirty years of my life, I can say that, for me, the person of Jesus has come to be more and more important. Specifically, this means that what matters increasingly is getting to know Jesus and living in solidarity with him.
A powerful and timely quote for our current times… Genie and Bob offer wonderful daily inspiration through their blog (blog link)
“When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”―…
Strive to Become Better
Pastor Michael Moore's Blog 