Monday Morning Stillness

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courage, heart, humility, John Philip Newell, Praying With the Earth, reverence, strong, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, treasure, wait

The lovely book by John Philip Newell entitled Praying with the Earth: A Prayerbook for Peace is set up in such a way that the reader not only finds – in addition to the prayers for the life of the world – prayers of awareness and blessing twice a day but also quotes from the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures and the Quran. That sounds like a lot of words but, in fact, it is not. Here are the three Scripture quotes for Monday morning that in their brevity moves one, perhaps, to a deeper, wordless place of peace.

Wait for God. Be strong and let your heart take courage. (Psalm 27: 14)

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:21)

Remember God deep in your soul with humility and reverence. (Quran – The Heights 7 .205)

The Breath of God

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Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, breath, desire, dream, I AM, longing, Rainer Maria Rilke, strong, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I felt the need for poetry this morning. Everything is gray and drenched with last night’s rain – definitely Friday. Rainer Maria Rilke’s Book of Hours had been sitting silently on the shelf under my side table for a long time waiting for attention. The subtitle of this translation by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy is Love Poems to God. I read page 81 as a continuing stream of words, a paragraph, which seems suitable to me right now.

I am, you anxious one. Don’t you sense me, ready to break into being at your touch? My murmurings surround you like shadowy wings. Can’t you see me standing before you cloaked in stillness? Hasn’t my longing opened in you from the beginning as fruit opens on a branch? I am the dream you are dreaming. When you want to awaken, I am that wanting: I grow strong in the beauty you behold. And with the silence of stars I enfold your cities made by time.

Can you feel the power within those words? The desire that is waiting for a response? The reason I could not allow a breath between the lines but plunged in and kept swimming until the end? I need to sit now in the silence of which he speaks, even though the morning begins to lighten everything inside and out. Are you there with me?

Holding On To Hope

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build foundation, evil, generous, goodness, hope, Manchester, spiritual willingness, strong, suicide bomber, terror attack, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, victims

It seems ironic that only 48 hours after I wrote my thoughts about optimism, we are faced with the shocking reality of the dangerous world in which we live. At this moment in Manchester, England, we know there are 22 people dead and dozens more with serious, even critical injuries because of a powerful bomb blast perpetrated, it is reported, by a single suicide bomber. Many of those victims of violence are teenagers. This is an unspeakable horror and ought to shake us to our core.

So where does the hope come from in this situation? Is there a balance to be had in this moment of evil? Even in the few stories I have read this morning, I would say a grateful and resounding YES! The example I choose that illustrates the goodness and solidarity that stands against evil is the 48-year old woman who gathered and led out of the arena a group of teenagers, took them to a hotel, stayed with them and gave them her cell phone number so that all their parents could call her to assure that their children were safe. In addition, hotels were opening their doors to anyone in need, taxi drivers were offering free rides and pictures from the scene showed any number of concert attendees helping the wounded. As all this was happening, no group claimed responsibility for the attack. To this moment it appears to be the work of one person.

This may be impossible for many of us but I (who have never birthed a child, let alone have one involved in this atrocity) must ask us to pray not only for the victims but for the soul of the perpetrator of the event. It is a stretch of our spiritual willingness, to be sure, but if I continue to speak of unitive consciousness and hope for “one world” I must not veer from the principle of universal love in any situation. I take the example of the woman I spoke of above who acted spontaneously out of the goodness that was already in her – as in all the rest of those generous people – to respond in contrast to the act of one person. How will we continue to build and not tear down the foundations of a world where this type of event cannot happen because of the light of love that exists in every citizen? It is only our work in this direction that can move us forward.

Are we strong enough? I can only pray that our corporate answer is “YES.”

Whose Agenda?

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agenda, brilliance, deadlines, determination, flock, grace, hand, humanity, love, psalm 80, shepherd, strength, strong, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I have a lot to accomplish today – deadlines are everywhere – and it is so muggy out (and inside my head) I feel as if I can hardly move, never mind think! But then I read just four verses from Psalm 80 (1-3, 16) and my determination to cooperate with the grace I know exists comes flooding in. Well, it actually started as a trickle but has increased already as I write. Here are the words that are my impetus this morning for my small agenda and, as I think of it, might be a starter prayer of petition to get our country and the world back on track.

Listen, O Shepherd of humanity, leading your people like a flock, let your splendor come flashing forth and shine in beauty from the throne that rides the wings of the cherubim. Rise up, come strong among our tribes and clans, and with your overflowing love recall us back to life, O God of all, so we may see the shining brilliance of your face. Yes, that will be enough for us, for we will be restored to you again…Reach out your hand to us again and make us strong, so we may be as we once were.