God Bless America

Tags

civility, discourse, freedom, guidance, hard grace, home, morality, prayer, responsibility, thanks, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, United States

Sometimes it’s difficult to get in touch with all the extraordinary blessings we experience as citizens of a free country. If I stay in the peaceful village where I live and don’t access the outside world through the “marvels” of technology it’s possible to enjoy a picnic or a good book while sitting outside in the sunshine. These days, however, in a political climate that is totally untenable, where hate is blatant and civility is often missing from human discourse, one wonders where it will all end.

When I was young, among the many things I learned about morality was the important axiom that freedom is not the same as license; we are not allowed to do everything we want just because we can. We must consider the common good as well as our desires. As the technological age has put us in touch with the world such that we now know what is happening everywhere – sometimes at the exact moment it occurs, our responsibility to the freedom we have inherited has deepened. At the same time, in a country as largely populated and diverse and a society as complex as what we still call the United States of America, we find that freedom can be what some have called a “hard grace.”

There is a tendency in me this morning to lament the “state of the nation” but I know that would be unfair to all those Americans around our country and the world who are responding to crises today, to all those health workers and researchers who are working to overcome disease, to teachers and farmers and mothers and fathers who are teaching their children what a privilege it is to live in this country and how we must work to assure justice for all. It would be unfair as well to people who are gathering in places of worship today – in churches, synagogues, mosques and the wide open spaces where the Holy is found – to give thanks for what we have been given and to ask for guidance as we go forward. I add my prayer to theirs as the music and the words rise in me, giving me confirmation of my gratitude for this country and the life that is possible here.

God bless America, land that I love. Stand beside her and guide her through the night with a light from above. From the mountains to the prairies, to the oceans, white with foam, God bless America, my home, sweet home. God, bless America, my home, sweet home. 

 

 

 

 

 

Mindful Celebration

Tags

blessed, citizen, divisive, Fourth of July, opportunity, Peace, privilege, Psalm 145, remembrance, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, United States

In the midst of horrendous acts of terror and destruction reported from around the world and even in our own country, we celebrate today our national holiday. I am often aware of the privilege of having been born in the United States of America, the “Land of Opportunity.” My grandparents sought and took that chance for a better life and I look back to my parents (members of Tom Brokaw’s “Greatest Generation”) and now to my siblings and cousins and see how blessed we have been.

With all our country’s challenges at present there is reason to lament. The widening gap between rich and poor, the increasingly divisive political rhetoric, the obvious disturbance caused by climate change cause me to wonder sometimes about our future. But then I think of all the great advances and advantages that we have here in the United States – all the remarkable inventions and discoveries, all the achievements of the young as well as some who have been working on the same problem all their adult lives who have just had the breakthrough that pushes our science to new heights. I watch hordes of people come forward to help in times of trouble and feel the joy of an announcement and photos of the long awaited birth of a new “citizen” in our family. Learning to live in the darkness and light of life without giving in to depression and sadness or appropriating for ourselves the credit for all good outcomes is sometimes quite a task. For me, the possibility of peace in the midst of it all lies in the recognition of my place and responsibility in the grand scheme of things.

Mindfulness of our relatedness to and reverence for all of creation and gratitude for God’s care at every moment seems a place to begin today’s celebration. I call on today’s liturgical text of the psalmist’s words for a fitting tribute to the One who is the Giver of all good gifts. Psalm 145 proclaims the following:

O Sovereign God, all-powerful, your name I praise above all else. Each day that comes I add another note of song that I shall never cease to sing, for you, Almighty One, are great beyond my telling. Of you there is no limit and no end. Each generation speaks its word, its view of you, and so your power passes through the ages. In awe I ponder all that you have done. I see its beauty and its grandeur everywhere. Yes, all shall finally see and know it too, and recount in full to everyone. And so the news of you shall spread and grow, and all shall add their voice to sing this song of deep remembrance.

Blessings to us and all the world. Happy 4th!

 

Happy Fourth

Tags

community, creativity, Fourth of July, generosity, identity, immigrants, opportunity, Peace, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, United States, world

Yesterday I was frustrated because there was an internet glitch that kept me from posting this daily blog. This morning when I checked to see if anyone had visited our site yesterday, I found that people did view 15 previous posts and that in addition to the United States the visitors came from Panama, Australia, Nigeria and Germany. It is a miracle to me that in the span of my lifetime our world has progressed from “party-line” telephones, where we had to share phone connection with neighbors, to the worldwide web of instant global reach. This progression (as well as many others) is not the achievement of one nation but rather a sometimes competitive and sometimes cooperative venture among countries.

Today the United States celebrates our national holiday of independence. I am grateful to live in this land of great opportunity, creativity and generosity. Knowing that we are at the same time fiercely independent and sometimes mired in the greed that can be a by-product of success, I remember that we have been, throughout our history, built on the efforts of our immigrant ancestors and that our responsibility is as large as our achievement. I have been changed in writing this blog almost every day. I can no longer just be conscious of my personal life or my identity as an American descended from Irish Roman Catholic immigrants. In pondering my message for the day, I need to be aware of others as far away as the Philippines or South Africa or Finland or…

As we give thanks for the blessings of peace and prosperity in this land today, my prayer will be for a future of world community where all are able to celebrate having what they need and to share life with neighbors across the globe.

God’s House

Tags

God, Gospel of Matthew, House (TV series), Jesus, Lectionary, Peace, Psalm 122, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, United States

This morning I read an alternate translation of Psalm 122, the lectionary psalm for today. I found it beautiful and replete with images worthy of reflection. I offer it as a streaming thought pattern instead of the normal way a psalm is written (in verses) because the progression of ideas from the “house” being a place, to the house becoming those who dwell there through the intermediary of God’s rule of love.

With joy I arose and went into your house when called to the worship of your name. I entered and now stand singing at your gates with all those gathered to worship and adore you. Your holy name becomes for us a blessed city, a place of peace that draws us deeper in, where people of every tongue and race rise up before the presence of your face and know and love the God of peace as one.

So in this hallowed space and ground your judgment and your rule of love become for us a kingdom. And may that kingdom come, your peace be done over all the earth, we pray.

Within the inner walls of heart and soul, and on the outer towers of human being, may peace descend, and be for everyone a fortress and a keep where nothing evil enters in. And this we pray now for the good of all, for all who are your house, your dwelling place forever.