love one another

This Sunday's gospel reading is from John 13

in which Jesus gives us a new commandment

to love one another, as he has loved us.

And what does that really look like in our daily life?

“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone;

it has to be made, like bread,

remade all the time, made new”

Ursula Le Guin

Beloved

This one is for Kim....

with whom I share the Lenten practice

of praying the Lord's Prayer....

Beloved,

You who dwell

at the heart of Creation,

come

and make yourself known to us.

Give us this day

life in its fullness.

Forgive us when we

deny it in others

as we forgive those

who take it from us.

Keep us from hopelessness

and despair and deliver us

into freedom.

For you are life,

and breath, body

and being in

every moment's

eternity.

Amen.

Antoinette Voute Roeder

Weaving the Wind

slip n' slide

Last Sunday at St. Paul's annual meeting our youth director (Steve Roe) mentioned the importance of  developing an attitude of  youthfulness for our congregation.  I've been thinking all week about what that would look like - and then I saw this photo and realized that youthfulness requires some elements of playfulness. 

Look at that man...for all we know he might have just left the office of his supervisor upstairs, who informed him that his job was being downsized, but after sliding he is able to shake the bad news off and his inner child is delighted!

Imagine if every time you had to retrieve something from upstairs what joy you would anticipate knowing that you'd be able to slide back down?  Is this just a fabulous way to embrace youthfulness?  All offices, churches, and homes should be required to have one.  And for those of us with grandchildren, it would only raise our coolness factor with them.  Now, all I need is a two-story house. 

Greed

"The store was closed

so I went home and hugged what I own."

Brooks Palmer

OK, so this little girl isn't exactly embracing this concept,

but perhaps, like the rest of us,

 she can learn to at least loosen her grasp

on her excess of material gods (oops, I meant goods.)

Grateful for the questions

Most of the time spent in a Spiritual Direction session involves my remaining silent and listening.  But sometimes when I'm listening to someone who is confused or who seems to be filled with more questions than answers, I start to think that I should be coming up with answers.  And once I start thinking of answers I know that I have stepped away from Spiritual Direction and moved towards fixing and advice-giving....and this is not my role...

This story from Anthony de Mello  speaks well to what my role truly is:

Two men were once walking through a field when they saw an angry bull. Instantly they made for the nearest fence with the bull in hot pursuit. It soon became evident to them that they were not going to make it, so one man shouted to the other, “We’ve had it! Nothing can save us. Say a prayer. Quick!”

The other shouted back, “I’ve never prayed in my life and I don’t have a prayer for this occasion.”
“Never mind. The bull is catching up with us. Any prayer will do.”
“Well, I’ll say the one I remember my father used to say before meals; For what we are about to receive, Lord, make us truly grateful."

If we are able to develop the spiritual practice of being grateful for all the impossible situations that we encounter on a daily basis then the questions may dissipate in the realization that they are all already answered.

I'm still at the beginning stages of this level of gratefulness.  How about you?