“Nonviolence is not inaction. It is not discussion. It is not for the timid or weak. . . . Nonviolence is hard work.”—Cesar Chavez
“Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.”—Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
There is no charity without justice. Too often we think of charity as a kind of moral luxury, as something which we choose to practice, and which gives us merit in God’s sight, at the same time satisfying a certain interior need to “do good.”… Such charity is immature and even in some cases completely unreal. True charity is love, and love implies deep concerns for the needs of another. It is not a matter of moral self-indulgence, but of strict obligation…. I am obliged by the law of Christ and of the Spirit to be concerned about my brother’s need, above all with his greatest need, the need for love. — The Redwood Conferences & Letters: Thomas Merton in California, p. 434 (Editor David M. Odorisio’s note—original quote from Merton’s book Life and Holiness, pp. 87-88)
In the stillness of the quiet, if we listen, we can hear the whisper of the heart giving strength to weakness, courage to fear, hope to despair. — Howard Thurman (The Mood of Christmas)
Verse of the day
O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
– Psalm 104:24
Voice of the day
Love all of God’s creation, both the whole of it and every grain of sand. Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light.
– Fyodor Dostoevsky, “The Brothers Karamazov” (1880)
Prayer of the day
Open our hearts to see your wisdom in every creature and every grain of sand, that we may love all of your creation as a reflection of your boundless light and love.
“We must have courage—determination—to go on with the task of becoming free—not only for ourselves, but for the nation and the world.”—Rosa Parks
“Violence brings only temporary victories; violence, by creating many more social problems than it solves, never brings permanent peace.”—Martin Luther King Jr, A Testament of Hope
I closed today’s sermon (based on John 13:31-35) with these two quotes from Thomas Merton.
…love is not just something that happens to you: it is a certain special way of being alive. Love is, in fact, an intensification of life, a completeness, a fullness, a wholeness of life…. We do not become fully human until we give ourselves to each other in love. And this must not be confined only to sexual fulfillment: it embraces everything in the human person—the capacity for self-giving, for sharing, for creativity, for mutual care, for spiritual concern. Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone—we find it with another. — Love and Living, p. 27
I am speaking here about something very, very real. It is about the hidden mystery of the primacy of the heart in our true identity as human beings. Let me say here that by “heart” I do not mean the seat of human emotions in contrast to the mind as the seat of human thought. No, by heart I mean the center of our being where God comes to dwell with us and bring us the divine gifts of trust, hope, and love.
“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.*—Article 1, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Pastor Michael Moore's Blog 