“The call of the Prophet [is] to see the divine presence in every single person and to bring our loving gaze upon those who are on the edges of society.”
—Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, Orphan, Fool, Sovereign, Prophet: Creating New Beginnings in Times of Unraveling – A Self-Study, Online Retreat
What are some of the ways of being that help you to live in resistance to all that devalues and destroys life?
Verse of the day
If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
– James 2:15-17
Voice of the day
Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home.
– Eleanor Roosevelt
Prayer of the day
God, help us show love through action, starting close to home, so our faith is alive and just.
“Remembering that we’re part of a community of hundreds of thousands strong is a huge source of hope and strength. The road ahead is long. Together, we will reject a status quo that feeds, grows off, and promises more devastating violence—and use our commitment to one another as the foundation to build the more peaceful world we want and deserve.”—Sara, staff member of Win Without War
Verse of the day
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
– Ephesians 4:4-6
Voice of the day
Our hopes for a more just, safe, and peaceful world can only be achieved when there is universal respect for the inherent dignity and equal rights of all members of the human family.
– Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
Prayer of the day
God of all, help us to live into the truth that we are one body, called to embody your justice, peace, and respect for the dignity and equal worth of every member of the human family.
Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.
“To hold our tongues when everyone is gossiping, to smile without hostility at people and institutions, to compensate for the shortage of love in the world with more love in small, private matters; to be more faithful in our work, to show greater patience, to forgo the cheap revenge obtainable from mockery and criticism: all these are things we can do.”—Hermann Hesse
A friend of mine posted a portion of this passage on her Facebook page. We had been talking recently about the reasons why we cannot stay silent, even when it seems like nobody cares or is listening. With all that is being done on local, state, federal, and international levels to divide people and create an us versus them mentality, it is sadly too easy to fall into that trap.
Thomas Merton’s words below offer a reminder and a challenge to act differently and consider the inter connectional nature of this world. I am thankful for her invitation to consider these words of Merton. I invite you, dear reader, to consider his invitation to think and act differently, especially in these difficult times.
Do not be too quick to assume your enemy is a savage just because he is your enemy. Perhaps he is your enemy because he thinks you are a savage. Or perhaps he is afraid of you because he feels that you are afraid of him. And perhaps if he believed you were capable of loving him he would no longer be your enemy.
Do not be too quick to assume that your enemy is an enemy of God just because he is your enemy. Perhaps he is your enemy precisely because he can find nothing in you that gives glory to God. Perhaps he fears you because he can find nothing in you of God’s love and God’s kindness and God’s patience and mercy and understanding of the weaknesses of men.
Do not be too quick to condemn the man who no longer believes in God, for it is perhaps your own coldness and avarice, your mediocrity and materialism, your sensuality and selfishness that have killed his faith. — New Seeds of Contemplation, p. 177
Verse of the day
It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in any way but that by my speaking with all boldness Christ will be exalted now as always in my body, whether by life or by death.
– Philippians 1:20
Voice of the day
Body and soul: They hurt and heal together. Don’t forget your body, lest you lose your soul.
– Lisa Sharon Harper, “Returning to My Body After Trauma”
Prayer of the day
May we exalt Christ with our whole selves, knowing body and soul heal and hurt together.
Verse of the day
I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
– Ephesians 3:18-19
Voice of the day
Like God’s love for us, the love we show our neighbors shouldn’t be contingent on merit, safety, efficiency, time, money, energy, or even legality. This love of Jesus surpasses all knowledge, and will seem illogical by most standards.
– Stephen Mattson, “The Illogical Love of Jesus”
Prayer of the day
God, fill us with Christ’s limitless love so we may love others without conditions or fear.
“Know the ways of the ones who take care of you, so that you may take care of them.
Introduce yourself. Be accountable as the one who comes asking for life. Ask permission before taking. Abide by the answer.
Never take the first. Never take the last. Take only what you need.
Take only that which is given.
Never take more than half. Leave some for others. Harvest in a way that minimizes harm.
Use it respectfully. Never waste what you have taken. Share.
Give thanks for what you have been given.
Give a gift, in reciprocity for what you have taken.
Sustain the ones who sustain you and the earth will last forever.”
Pastor Michael Moore's Blog 