Tonight’s sunset was beautiful! Today has been a day to relax and simply be. We didn’t leave the cabin… we stayed and enjoyed the wonders of God’s creation. From the morning sun to the evening sunset, the presence of God was simply amazing. As another day of sabbath rest unfolded, it was another reminder of God’s love.
In the creation stories in Genesis, God called creation good. When God created humankind in God’s image, God called us very good. This is one of the most amazing signs of God’s love. Despite all that I do, at the center of my being is the divine spark that is good.
The ultimate good is the love that God had for God’s creation. From the smallest particle to the largest created being, we see love. From the Rocky Mountains of Colorado to the Appalachian Mountains, we have experienced the wonder of God’s love.
Thomas Merton speaks of such divine love in New Seeds of Contemplation. We must learn to realize that the love of God seeks us in every situation, and seeks our good. His inscrutable love seeks our awakening…
My prayer is that each of us, dear reader, will experience that love in our own lives and in our communities.
Voice of the day
We find our roots not by retracing our steps to a specific location, we find ourselves by finding each other. – John Onwuchekwa, “Ocean Liturgy”
Verse of the day
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. – Acts 2:42
Prayer of the day God, let your beloved love one another, because we know love comes from you.
The past two weeks have been an incredible blessing for Denise and me. Time away with friends on St Simon’s Island last week and a beautiful retreat on Lookout Mountain (Mentone) staying at the cabin owned by another friend this week has been such a gift and a blessing.
While relaxing after a day of hiking, touring, and enjoying some music from a local musician, I found this quote from Merton that spoke to me about this time of rest, reflection, and renewal.
We are at liberty to be real, or to be unreal. We may be true or false, the choice is ours. (New Seeds of Contemplation) The editor of Thomas Merton: Essential Writings, Christine M. Bochen concluded that In finding our true selves, we find God or, as Merton would put it, are found by God. (p. 54)
This has been a time of reflection and being open to God finding me. For that gift, I am truly thankful.
“Cowardice asks the question: is it safe? Expediency asks the question: is it politic? Vanity asks the question: is it popular? But conscience asks the question: is it right? And there comes a time when we must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular—but one must take it because it’s right.”—Martin Luther King, Jr.
The sun has set and the Vesper Lights flicker and glow
What a day of rest, reflection, and wonder it has been
For the gifts of your love
For the gift of your presence
For the gift of community
For all of these gifts 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…
The above picture is from a small cemetery on The Trail of Tears near Mentone, Alabama. The story of our First Nation siblings is both tragic and hopeful. It is tragic in the sense that we who are a part of the Anglo/Spanish/French colonization of this land have much to atone for. It is hopeful in the sense that those of us who stole the land can confess our ancestors sin and make a difference.
If you look closely at the roots to the left of the picture (in the hole), do you see and hear what I see? I see and hear the voices of those who have lost so much… who had their land stolen from them… who have had their religion and culture stolen from them by the white people…
So where do we go from here? Can we possibly find a way forward? Perhaps in the darkness we can find the light of hope and mercy… perhaps we can find forgiveness and restoration… perhaps we can find within ourselves a sacred calling…
These words of Thomas Merton speak to my heart this night…
I am out of bed at two-fifteen in the morning, when the night is darkest and most silent… I find myself in the primordial lostness of night, solitude, forest, peace, a mind awake in the dark… Magna misericordia. In the formlessness of night and silence a word then pronounces itself: Mercy. (Day of a Stranger, p. 43)
May we find mercy and a way forward in the midst of this darkness…
Today started out with coffee in Adirondack chairs overlooking the valley from our perch on Lookout Mountain. After a delightful lunch at The Hatter Cafe (as in the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland) we headed to DeSoto Falls for a hike before the rain came in. I hadn’t done any serious hiking since we left Estes Park and my new work schedule has not been conducive to regular walks. To say that I felt the challenge of that would be a massive understatement. Thankfully I survived the hike.
This lesson was a hard one to learn. A hard, yet necessary, lesson indeed. This is the second week of our vacation and I can’t tell you how much Denise and I have needed this time away.
Tonight I did a little bit of reading from Thomas Merton’s book Contemplative Prayer and came across this reminder—Without contemplation and interior prayer the church cannot fulfil her mission to transform and save mankind. Without contemplation, she would be reduced to being a servant of cynical and worldly powers, no matter how hard her faithful may protest that they are fighting for the kingdom of God.
This message not only applies to the the church, it also applies to this Padre. This is a lesson that I plan on carrying with me. Sacred Sabbath Rest and time for contemplation is necessary to my own spiritual health and well-being as I continue to serve as God has called me to serve.
“Resolving the conflict is only one element of the desired outcome of a conflict. Equally desirable is the impact the conflict has on both sides. A conflict resolved but leaving the parties unchanged is no success.”—Johan Galtung
Today we drove from Carrollton, Georgia to Lookout Mountain, Alabama. Thanks to the graciousness of a very dear friend of ours, we will be staying on the mountain this week. To say that it is amazing would be a massive understatement! Denise and I look forward to a week of reflection, rest, and retreat. Of course, Thomas Merton will be a part of this week’s retreat for me.
The way to find the real “world” is not merely to measure and observe what is outside us, but to discover our own inner ground. For that is where the world is, first of all: in my deepest self… (Contemplation in a World of Action, p. 170)
As for Pixie? She has found her own inner ground on two pillows at the end of the couch!!
Denise and I have been enjoying some vacation time. Tomorrow I will not be preaching at Carrollton Presbyterian Church… instead, we will be driving to Mentone, Alabama for a week at a friend’s cabin. We spent this past Monday – Thursday on St Simon’s Island… what a wonderful time.
This has been such a blessing for both of us. Next week’s retreat will also be a time of reflection and rest. In his Asian Journal, Thomas Merton shared the following about the interior journey. It makes a lot of sense to us as we begin week two of our time away.
Our real journey in life is interior: it is a matter of growth; deepening, and of an ever greater surrender to the creative action of love and grace in our hearts. (p. 296)
