The sun has set and the Vesper Lights flicker and glow
It was a day of reflection and reading
It was a time of preparing COVID-19 protocols for the Church
It was also a wonderful evening of dinner with family
Lots of laughter and stories over dominos
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…
During our brief trip to San Francisco we spent a lot of time near the water. We also did a tremendous amount of walking since we decided not to rent a car. As we spent time on the Bay, it was truly a time of revitalization. Watching this Gull soaring above us and actually being able to find the moment when its flight and my camera lens came together was wonderful. As we soaked up the sound of the waves coming ashore and watched the boats and the wildlife, we felt a sense of renewal. As much as we love our mountain home in the Rockies, it is always nice to spend some time on the water whether it is in San Francisco or on the Gulf Coast.
Tomorrow in Worship I will light the second candle of Lent which represents Earth. The following is a portion of the liturgy which will accompany the candle lighting. We light this candle on this second Sunday of Lent, remembering God’s assurance of new life through the signs of spring in the earth… Prayer: As the days lengthen and bulbs are preparing deep in the earth, dear God, may we be ready for what you are preparing to grow in us. Nourish us so that we might bear spiritual fruit. In the name of Christ, with whom we journey towards the cross, we pray. Amen.
Did you catch the symbolism in the words? New Life… Signs of Spring… Growth… Spiritual Fruit… They all point towards renewal which is one of the major factors in our Lenten observance.
There is also the symbolism of Psalm 121 where we are urged to lift up our eyes to the mountain and ask, where does our help come from. I know for myself personally, when I am out in the midst of God’s wondrous creation that I have no doubt where it comes from even in the wildness of the wilderness. The one who created such beauty is our strength and our guide.
In their book Superabundantly Alive: Thomas Merton’s Dance with the Feminine Susan McCaslin and JS Porter talk about Thomas Merton and his thoughts about the theology of encounter. The theology of encounter leads to the theology of kindness and respect. While Merton was considering the encounter between humans, it could just as easily be said about creation. If we properly encounter creation with an attitude of respect, this encounter can be life changing. We can then find ourselves approaching creation with kindness and respect. For Denise and for me, such an approach led to the 45 minute sacred encounter with this Bull Moose in the Rocky Mountain National Park.
Our friend the Bull Moose wasn’t disturbed at all by us as we kept our distance (I was using my zoom lens!) and talked quietly with him. He grazed, he rested, and he even posed so that we could have a variety of pictures of him. We encountered him and in so doing we shared mutual kindness and respect.
If we can but translate that into the way we treat each other, can you imagine what a wonderful world this could be? Louis Armstrong – What a Wonderful World
What must I do to become born anew Nicodemus asked Jesus. Jesus responded: Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” — John 3:7-8
I can almost hear Merton replying, to Nicodemus, “You want to be reborn? Encounter the wonders of God’s creation and your neighbors… then in the transformation of that encounter you will feel only kindness and respect for one another.”
Yes, my dear reader, in these holy encounters (even in the midst of the wilderness places) I can find hope and new life. My prayer is that you will find it as well. Then we can be about making this a more wonderful world. Oh yeah…. 🎶
A beautiful offering from Christine Sine ❤️❤️
This beautiful and compelling rendition of the Lord’s prayer was posted by the Society of the Sacred Heart. I thought that it made a great addition to our Lenten collection of prayers…
— Read on godspacelight.com/2020/03/07/unpacking-the-lords-prayer-with-the-society-of-the-sacred-heart/
The sun has set and the Vesper Lights flicker and glow
Thank you Lord for a time of introspection and reading
Thank you for a wonderful walk with my sweetheart
Thank you for time with family
Thank you for an evening of music and wonderful food
The time we spend with family is precious
Thank you Lord for all of these gifts
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…
When I think of the myriad of encounters I have had over the course of my life, it is amazing! So many places… so many people… we come into each other’s lives for a season. Some stay for a while and other last a lifetime. When I was in the military we made friendships quickly. After all, in the officer corps, each year about a third of the officer corps on the base would rotate out to a new assignment. For the time we were together, the collegiality was good. Once we moved on to new assignments, we often lost touch with each other and began building relationships all over again. This was even more so with our families. It wasn’t always easy… and long-term relationships were difficult to maintain. As I look back on it now, I can appreciate the monastic vow of stability.
Stability… not the constant moving around, but rather becoming rooted and grounded in the community of faith and life. In the parish ministry post AF retirement, I see the grounding happening in a new way. I also see the grounding within my denomination, the Presbyterian Church (USA). We are a connectional church and relationships can and do run deep.
As I consider this and some of the writings of Thomas Merton, I can see in my own life the value of relationship. In the book Superabundantly Alive: Thomas Merton’s Dance with the Feminine by Susan McCaslin and JS Porter, I have read the following about the Theology of Encounter which truly resonates within my soul.
From the book, Superabundantly Alive: Thomas Merton’s Dance with the Feminine by Susan McCaslin and JS Porter I read the following: The theology of encounter isn’t a phrase he drops into a journal: it’s his way of approaching people. He builds relationships and makes friends. He remembers that spirit comes to us by way of the body… Whatever Merton knows, he knows through deep reading, reflection, and encounters with particular individuals with whom he develops relationships and friendships. He practices the Theology of encounter… For Merton, friendship and relationship are the highest forms of knowing. He seems to know intuitively that we are all made larger by our friends. We become human by our relationships… The theology of encounter leads to the theology of kindness and respect.
The theology of Encounter leads to the theology of kindness and respect. I can’t tell you how many times I have had this conversation with other military members or in my work in the church. Before you condemn or criticize someone, get to know them. When you see them as an individual human being instead of a stereotype, then you can embrace them as sister… as brother… in this kindness, respect, and love, the world can indeed be turned around. What a lesson this can and must be for us today.
A wonderful Lenten reflection from my friend Carl!
Mardi Gras has come and gone; Ash Wednesday was last week’s news. Friends, we are in the midst of the season of Lent.
For some people, this means no chocolate or whisky or Facebook until Easter; for others, it’s all about the Friday night fish fry sponsored by the local chapter of the Knights of Columbus. But however you do (or don’t) observe Lent, I’d like to invite you to consider the mystical (hidden) meaning of Lent — and how that might help to open up this often-misunderstood season of the Christian year…
— Read on madmimi.com/p/3468501
A powerful blog from my good friend Jake!
Hangovers really stink. Never having another hangover is one of the reasons I’m grateful that I don’t drink alcohol anymore.
Well, actually, I don’t have alcohol hangovers anymore. But from time to time I still suffer emotional hangovers. Sometimes I binge on what turns out to be toxic emotions. My overindulgence can leave me exhausted, dazed, and ashamed…
— Read on jakeowensby.com/2020/03/06/somethings-got-to-give/
The sun has set and the Vesper Lights flicker and glow
A wonderful day of ministry and training
A wonderful time of fellowship
A wonderful evening supporting Partners Mentoring Youth
A wonderful evening with dear friends
For all of these opportunities 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…
I have been spending a fair amount of time with Thomas Merton and the Psalms of Lament (the focus of our Midweek Lenten Services) this Lenten season. Actually I have been spending a lot of time with Merton and I have been for quite some time now.
When I first met Merton in January of 2015, I had a difficult time following him. Denise and I were at a course for our Certificate in Christian Spiritual Formation at Columbia Presbyterian Theological Seminary. We were taking a course about Merton and his journals. I didn’t understand at the beginning why Merton flew from one point or thought to another. I wondered if he would have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder today.
It wasn’t until I began to read and reflect on his thoughts regarding War-madness, warmongering, and the oppression of the poor that I got it. Merton had so much going through his heart and his mind that he seemed to need to speak or write in order to get his thoughts out and on paper. It was through the reading and reflection we did that week in class that Thomas Merton reached into my very soul and challenged me! He challenged me yet he also challenged me in love.
Today I see so much going on in the world that oppresses the poor and the vanishing middle class in favor of the rich. It seems to me that we have lost our Moral Compass and Merton is challenging us today as he did in the 1960’s to find and reclaim that Compass.
Today I came across a quote from Merton’s book Opening the Bible which was was published in 1970, two years after his death. It is both profound and challenging in its simplicity and complexity.
We must never overlook the fact that the message of the Bible is above all a message preached to the poor, the burdened, the underprivileged. (p. 51)
As we face illnesses and soaring costs of both medicine and insurance. As I see it, our sisters and brothers have to make a choice between working sick because they can’t afford to take time off for fear of being fired because they don’t get adequate sick leave or time off or losing their job. I see a gross inequity and neglect of one of the fundamental calls as a decent human being and a person of faith. We ditch others so that we can have more of the supposed limited pie.
Matthew 25 challenges us to look at our actions (or lack of actions) on behalf of our poorer sisters and brothers. The “goats” in Jesus’s parable asked… When did we see you hungry and not feed you? When did we see thirsty and not give you something to drink? When did we see you naked and not clothe you? When did we see you in prison and not visit you? When did we not see or recognize you, Lord? Then the Lord replied: Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. (Matthew 25:45)
That is what Merton is trying to remind us of. He is calling us back to the way God wants all of us to act and minister in God’s name. May we hear that challenge and take up that calling.
The sun has set and the Vesper Lights flicker and glow
It has been a long but good day of ministry
There has also been time for reading and reflection
Tonight’s Lenten worship was meaning-filled
Time spent with my sweetheart is always wonderful
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…
