“The self creates the world by means of projection. Much of the world’s violence, for example, is an acting out of the violence we find within ourselves, an effort to get rid of our inner demons by projecting them ‘out there.’ We help create the outward enemy to distract us from the inward enemy who always threatens to overcome us.”—Parker Palmer
Verse of the day
So make your minds ready for action, and be sober. Put your hope in nothing but the grace that will be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.
– 1 Peter 1:13
Voice of the day
Jesus rejected hatred because he saw that hatred meant death to the mind, death to the spirit, and death to communion with his Father. He affirmed life; and hatred was the great denial.
– Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited (1949)
Prayer of the day May our minds and spirits be filled as we commune with you. Reveal to us the path ahead.
The sun has set and the Vesper Lights flicker and glow
Today has been a wonderful day
Work and ministry went very well
My sweetheart is home with HRH and me
It is the beginning of our weekend together
An excellent dinner that my sweetheart made and good wine
Snuggling on the couch
Enjoying one of our favorite BritBox show, “Death in Paradise”
For such relaxing and wonderful evenings I thank you, Lord
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…
Our dear friends Christine Sine and Lilly Lewin are offering a creative Advent retreat which draws inspiration from Christine’s book, The Gift of Wonder. The Retreat will be Saturday, November 20th via Zoom. Denise and I participated in an earlier retreat that they offered and found much fun and inspiration as we explored the gifts of wonder and awe which we all too often overlook.
For further information and to sign up for the retreat, click on this link: https://godspacelight.com/shop/walking-in-wonder-through-advent-virtual-retreat/.
“No season of the year is more filled with wonder than that of Advent
and Christmas. The story turns our understanding of the world upside
down. From the stunning revelation that our creator God plans to be
born into history as the son of an unwed peasant, until Jesus arrives
in the tiny town of Bethlehem and is surrounded by the lowly
shepherds, we are inspired.
Yet we live in an awe deprived world and are so familiar with the story
that its wonder and glory often elude us” Christine Sine
Life can often times be challenging. I know that many times in my own life, there is a temptation when I mess up to move to another course of action. When I was facing a dark night of the soul late in my Air Force Chaplain career I thought that changing jobs would be the answer. God thought otherwise and called me back to ministry. This time it was a calling to ministry after the Air Force and back in the parish. These words of Thomas Merton speak to me of the wisdom of God and my/our calling to actually listen when the Spirit speaks.
The thing to do, when you have made a mistake, is not to give up doing what you were doing and start something altogether new, but to start over again with the thing you began badly and try, for the love of God, to do it well. — Entering the Silence: The Journals of Thomas Merton, vol 2 – October 7, 1949,
Verse of the day
Throughout the land that you hold, you shall provide for the redemption of the land.
– Leviticus 25:24
Voice of the day
To love a place is not enough. We must find ways to heal it.
– Franz Dolp, quoted in Robin Wall Kimmerer’s, Braiding Sweetgrass (2013)
Prayer of the day Help us to act now for the good of future generations and all your creatures. Help us to become instruments of a new creation.
– The Cry of the Earth
HRH Pixie is a rescue puppy. She was rescued by a former parishioner and friend who is a veterinarian. We are all thankful to Dr. Jay for giving her a new life and home. ❤️🐾 In a way, she had once been lost and was found/rescued by Dr. Jay.
This past Sunday the story of John Newton, among others, was one of my illustrations. I once was blind, but now I see. The gospel lesson centered on the story of Blind Bartimaeus. Even though he was physically blind, his faith literally opened his eyes! In John Newton’s case, it was his own spiritual awakening which God used to open his own eyes which began his transformation from a slave-ship captain to a servant of God. I was thankful for the opportunity to reflect on my own times of darkness and “blindness” and the opening of my eyes thanks to Spirit. Thomas Merton wrote about how the Good Shepherd opens our eyes and welcomes us home.
God is the Father who fights to defend and rescue His child. The life of the Child of God is not in the “development of spirituality” but in obedience to the Good Shepherd who seeks him, knowing he is lost. It is in solitude that we recognize, with a shock, how lost we have been, and that now we are found, rescued, recovering conscience, returning to ourselves, to Truth, carried by Him who has sought and found us. – Dancing in the Waters of Life: The Journals of Thomas Merton, Vol Five (end of 1965)
I am thankful for such spiritual awakenings in my own life. Dear reader, it is in simply being still where we can hear the call of the shepherd … but we must be willing to be silent and vulnerable.
Verse of the day
Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long.
– Psalm 25:5
Voice of the day
Truth is divine action entering our lives and creating the human action of liberation.
– James H. Cone, God of the Oppressed(1975)
Prayer of the day Help me to act with your abundant truth as I pursue liberation.
Brilliant, windy day—cold. It is fall. It is the kind of day in October that Pop used to talk about. I thought about my grandfather as I came up through the hollow, with the sun on the bare persimmon trees, and a song in my mouth. All songs are, as it were, one’s last. I have been grateful for life. Turning Toward the World: The Pivotal Years, volume IV of the Journals of Thomas Merton, October 23, 1962
As the seasons turn and the winter of rest and laying fallow begins for Mother Earth, these words of Thomas Merton spoke to my heart. Especially the gift of a song in my mouth and gratitude for life. This season of life continues to have challenges yet at the same time I am grateful for the life that I have with my sweetheart Denise. ❤️❤️
And yes, Pixie we are both grateful for the life we have with you ❣️❤️🐾
“Breath prayers are a way to help me slow down and savor my experience, to pause and reflect on what I have encountered, to anticipate what I will commit myself to doing next.”
— Christine Valters Paintner, PhD,Breath Prayer: An Ancient Practice for the Everyday SacredCan you yield your need to be productive and offer up your practice to the Holy One?
Check out my friend Christine’s newest book, Breath Prayer at Breath Prayer – Christine Valters Paintner
