Isidore Hochberg was born in New York City’s Lower East Side, 125 years ago this week. His parents, Yiddish-speaking Jewish immigrants, had risked everything to escape the anti-Semitic persecution of Russia, and while the Lower East Side was far safer than the Czars, it was a hardscrabble place to grow up. Little Isidore, the last […]
“Somewhere Over the Rainbow…” — Ronnie McBrayer
“To remain silent or indifferent in the face of the challenges in today’s imperiled world is, in the end, to give aid and comfort to forces of reaction and bigotry, and weaken the effectiveness of those seeking to combat such negative forces. Let your practice go with you and see what happens. Let the world’s pain come into you and the great exertion will emerge.”
—Roshi Philip Kapleau
| Verse of the day Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. – Luke 16:10 (NIV) |
| Voice of the day We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world. – Howard Zinn, You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train (1994) |
| Prayer of the day Lord, help us answer your call so that we might extend your blessing throughout our community. Remind us that the places where we find you become altars in our world – Adapted from Common Prayer |
Verse of the day Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.
– 1 John 4:20
Voice of the day
The mentality of enmity can poison a nation’s spirit, instigate brutal life and death struggles, destroy a society’s tolerance and humanity, and block a nation’s progress to freedom and democracy. – Liu Xiaobo
Prayer of the day
Lord, may your reign become real through the works of our hands and your love alive in our hearts. – Adapted from Common Prayer
This past week has been a time of introspection and thoughtful wondering. After a long fourteen-month absence, we were able to spend a week with my Dad. Pandemic isolation has been difficult for each one of us.
To simply spend time with him in his apartment was good for each one of us and Pixie enjoyed it too!
Over the course of long days of driving between Georgia and Minnesota I was able to spend time in reflection. As noted in an earlier blog, I have decided to withdraw from the Doctor of Ministry program at United. While I have enjoyed some aspects of the work, it felt more like a burden than something that is life-giving as a part of who I am. This week with Denise, my Dad, her Dad tomorrow, and reading what I find nourishing for my soul has been a tremendous gift and blessing.
Tonight as we relaxed before the last leg of our journey, these words of Thomas Merton spoke to my heart. They speak as well to the introspection and discernment that I have been engaged in.
The secret of my identity is hidden in the love and mercy of God… Ultimately the only way that I can be myself is to become identified with Him in Whom is hidden the reason and fulfillment of my existence. (New Seeds of Contemplation, pages 35, 36)
Hidden in the love and mercy of God… there is much to ponder, celebrate, and embrace. I invite you, dear reader, to open your heart to this invitation to be embraced by the love of God.
A wonderful reflection for this Second Sunday of Easter from my good friend Jake Owensby!
Forgiveness is what love looks like when you don’t feel like it. That’s a paraphrase of something Wendell Berry once said.
To put that a different way, forgiveness is the kind of love that we give imperfect things. Things that aren’t always so likable. And since everything—simply everything—in this world is imperfect, it’s the only kind of love we can give in this life… read further at http://jakeowensby.com/2021/04/09/loving-a-flawed-world/
Verse of the day How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!
– Psalm 133:1 (NIV)
Voice of the day
Life is not what you alone make it. Life is the input of everyone who touched your life and every experience that entered it. We are all part of one another. – Yuri Kochiyama
Prayer of the day
Make us worthy, Lord, to serve our brothers and sisters throughout the world, who live and die in poverty and pain. Give them today, through our hands, their daily bread and through our understanding love, give peace and joy. Amen – From Common Prayer
This has been a good visit with my Dad and with friends we haven’t seen in over a year. There has been much to contemplate, including the doctoral program at my Alma mater that has been a disappointment for me. At the conclusion of this current class, I will be withdrawing from the program. There is so much to be explored via other avenues that will be life-giving. I look forward to those opportunities to learn and to grow!
So at this time, the Spirit seems to be speaking to my heart and guiding my steps. As I spent time with Merton tonight, he spoke to me of hope, guidance, and the presence of God in the midst of the wondering.
These words from New Seeds of Contemplation spoke volumes to me at this point in the journey. Detachment from things does not mean setting up a contradiction between “things” and “God” as if God were another “thing” and as if His creatures were his rivals. We do not detach ourselves from things in order to attach ourselves to God, but rather we become detached from ourselves in order to see and use all things in and for God. (p. 21)
As we walk with family and friends through difficult times… as we seek to discern where God is calling us… as we seek to listen to the call of the Spirit and follow Her leading… we seek to authentically be whom God has created us to be.
As this journey continues to unfold, my prayer for family and dear friends is the concluding sentence in Merton’s most famous prayer: I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. (from Thoughts in Solitude)
God is indeed with us and the Spirit is indeed guiding us through the Valley of the Shadows. We are not alone.
“Our own life is the instrument with which we experiment with Truth.”—Thich Nhat Hanh
Verse of the day What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? – James 2:14
Voice of the day
Action is the antidote to despair. – Joan Baez
Prayer of the day
Lord, you are coming in glory to bring the fullness of peace, healing, and justice. Teach us to wait when you would have us wait. And teach us to act when you would have us act. Fill us up with the expectation of you your coming reign so much that we cannot help but to enact it now. Amen. – Adapted from Common Prayer
