Thanks for sharing, Madre ❤️
Today’s poems are by African American theologian Howard Thurman (November 18, 1899 – April 10, 1981) an influential American author, philosopher, theologian, educator and civil rights leader….
godspacelight.com/2018/12/28/the-mood-of-christmas-harry-thurman/
Small, helpful ways you can support a loved one who is dealing with depression.
— Read on www.huffpost.com/entry/ways-to-support-loved-one-with-depression_n_5c17fca2e4b0432554c2ffed
So much truth in this article… believe me 💜💙
The sun has set and the Vesper Lights flicker and glow
As I reflect on a busy and complicated day
As I spent time tonight with my sweetie
You sent your gentle reminder, Lord
The light of your love and your presence
To you, Lord, I lift up my weary spirit
In you, Lord, we find our comfort
To you, Lord, I lift this humble prayer
Dona Nobis Pacem
Grant Us Peace
A wee prayer from the heart of your exhausted Padre…
The sun has set and the Vesper Lights flicker and glow
It has been a day of reflection, Lord
It has been a day to simply Be Still
It has been a day with family
It has been a day of fellowship
Lord, as my eyelids grow heavy
As I prepare for sleep and a work day tomorrow
I lift this humble prayer to you
Dona Nobis Pacem
Grant Us Peace
A wee prayer from the heart of your Padre…
When I thought, “My foot is slipping,” your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul. (Psalm 94:18-19)
The Scripture reading from Celtic Morning Prayer this morning touched something within my heart. Christmas Day was a bittersweet experience for me. It is good to have Denise’s family here for Christmas, yet there is an empty place at the table. This was our first Christmas without her Mom who died this past March.
When I called my Dad, I could hear the loneliness in his voice. He misses my Mom and it has also been a difficult year for him with multiple health concerns. My heart went out to him as we talked.
Beginning with our Blue Christmas Service on Friday I have been thinking a lot about those who are missed especially at Christmas. Many of my friends posted pictures and had similar reflections. Missing loved ones at Christmas… loved ones who are physically absent but very present in their hearts….
The promise of Psalm 94:18-19 is that even when I feel my feet slipping on the path I am walking, the Lord lifts me up. As I lift in my own heart so many who feel the loss of loved ones this holiday season, my prayer is that they too will be gently lifted by the arms of our loving God.
In that moment, may the light of Christmas Hope that Howard Thurman speaks of be kindled. And may its glow lighten hearts and lives.
Beautiful, Charlotte ❤️❤️
This quiet sigh of a morning
draws me in
clamor and clusters now a distant
prairie in another world
A segment from Michelle’s upcoming book, True You: Letting Go of Your False Self to Uncover the Person God Creates… release on January 1st!
On January 12, 2007, a young man dressed in a gray, long-sleeve tee shirt, jeans, and a baseball cap emerged from the metro at the L’Enfant Plaza station in Washington D.C., tucked a violin under his chin, and began to play.…
michellederusha.com/2018/12/why-its-time-to-declutter-your-heart-mind-and-soul/
Beautiful, Ana Lisa… and so true!
You can do this without us.
Move the earth through its orbit,
the courses of the stars you keep on track.
The galaxies whose music you orchestrate,
sing from millennium to millennium.
That you can do this without us
we so know.
Which is why we are amazed still
that you don’t.
Have not left us alone
to navigate through the courses of our lives,
to hold on to this spinning earth which,
but for your gravity we could not survive.
You can do this without us
we understand,
which is why we stand in awe still
that you’ve chosen otherwise.
That instead you have not only not left,
but you’ve come as close as we each allow.
In Immanuel, God with us,
our unwrapping forever gift.
Oh, you can so do this without us.
Move the earth through its orbit
the courses of the stars on track.
The galaxies…
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The experience of Christmas comes from the margin. The message of Christmas is that from the margin life is changing; from the margin comes hope. God is hidden behind the common faces of the people in the neighborhood. God hides in the faces of hungry children. God is suffering with the pain of abused women. God sweats on the poorly paid worker’s shirt, experiences the frustration of the illiterate who does not understand the newspapers or drug prescriptions, dies daily with those suffering from curable but not profitable diseases.
— Read on www.presbyterianmission.org/story/a-christmas-day-reflection/
Today Denise and I will begin reading Bruce Epperly’s book The Work of Christmas: The 12 Days of Christmas with Howard Thurman.
From the introduction to the book:
In contrast to the illusions of the rich and famous, who deny privilege based on birth, race, and economics, God comes to us at Christmas among the poor and forgotten… After Christ’s birth, the Holy Family had to flee to Egypt to save their beloved child from the machinations of the religious and political leaders. Refugees in a strange land, like many of today’s undocumented workers, political refugees, and their children, Jesus and his family survived because of the kindness of strangers who accepted them despite their immigrant status. Emmanuel, God with us, is the message of Christmas in the darkness of our own times, when our nation is polarized and people fear the future. God is with the Muslim family bullied on their way home from a mosque, a gay couple whose right to marry is challenged by “good Christian” folks, a child left behind during recess because of his learning disability, an elder abandoned by relatives in a nursing facility, and unemployed Central Pennsylvania machinists who blame their plight on immigrants and persons of color rather than the greed of American corporations. In the apparent darkness of our times, we need to remember that God is still with us as we pray: O holy Child of Bethlehem Descend to us, we pray Cast out our sin and enter in Be born to us today. We hear the Christmas angels The great glad tidings tell O come to us, abide with us Our Lord Emmanuel.
As we walk this season after Christmas, my prayer is that we will continue to hold to the true meaning of this holy time. Thurman has truly been speaking loudly (which is amazing considering that his lectures are soft-spoken and very intentional) to me as I continue to walk this journey of faith.
The closing prayer in the Introduction speaks of a hope, a challenge, and a promise.
O Holy Child of Bethlehem, be born in us today. Cast out our sin, and enter in. Fill us with your light amid the darkness of our time. Let us be lights in our world, living witnesses that love is stronger than fear, that Christ is alive in our lives and the world. In Christ’s name. Amen.
