hermionesviolin: image of snow covered hill and trees with text "the snow with its whiteness" (snow)
Desert Prayer
by Jan Richardson

I am not asking you to take this wilderness from me,
to remove this place of starkness
where I come to know the wildness within me,
where I learn to call the names of the ravenous beasts
that pace inside me, to finger the brambles
that snake through my veins, to taste the thirst
that tugs at my tongue.

But send me tough angels,
sweet wine, strong bread:

just enough.

(Silent Meditation at CWM tonight)




Oh, New England.  After CHPC Adult Ed, Rachel and I were talking, and we headed toward the Square and decided to get lunch together.  Rachel was complaining about the cold and rain, and we were walking down Holland St., probably around 1pm, and Rachel said, "Look at the sky over there," gesturing to our right (west), and then there were like these waves of vertical curtains of snow.  When we left Mr. Crepe about an hour later, there was blue sky with white clouds.  Snow squalls recurred throughout the day, and walking home from CWM there was lovely white coatings on the ground.

"Joy Sadhana is a daily practice in the observation of joy."
-[livejournal.com profile] mylittleredgirl [more info]

"Sin is necessary, but all will be well, and all will be well, and every kind of thing will be well."
-Julian of Norwich, Showings

Five good things about today:
1. I really like N. T. Wright's chapter on "the Kingdom of God" in The Meaning of Jesus (ch. 3: "The Mission and Message of Jesus").  And yeah, I know I still owe sk8eeyore a comment about "kin-dom."
2. Snow :)
3. Chatting with Rachel.
4. Being out [at CWM] about being not-a-liberal and having that be okay.  Especially with Marla.  (It's not exactly a new thing, but I often feel, I dunno, nervous? around Marla.)
5. Learning new and interesting things at the trans study after CWM fellowship tonight.  (Yeah, eventually I'll finish a writeup.)
BONUS: Joe IMed me to ask me how I was doing :)

Three things I did well today:
1. I got up with my alarm this morning.
2. I participated in discussions.
3. I responded to Allie's e-mail about getting together this week.

Two things I am looking forward to (doing [better]) tomorrow:
1. Recruiting process debrief meeting.  (Even though word is that FAs may not actually be attending.  So long as we get looped in afterward -- which I'm sure will happen.)
2. The Sarah Connor Chronicles
hermionesviolin: image of snow covered hill and trees with text "the snow with its whiteness" (snow)
Big clumps of white. This pleases me greatly. [And by the time I got to post this around 4:30 it had started to stick to the ground.]

*

[livejournal.com profile] southernbangel posted about Fred Phelps and it being Holy Week and the struggle to live into that commandment to love everyone. The post is worth reading in full, but I want to repost this particular section:
However much I disagree with Phelps, however much I abhor his personal beliefs, I'm so glad that God's grace is so much greater than mine. I believe in a God who is just yet forgiving, compassionate and generous, and, above all, loving. Even to men like Fred Phelps.
*

Tiffany (the pastor at Cambridge Welcoming) is blogging Holy Week -- each day an oremus link to the lectionary text, an excerpt from someone else's writing, and a prayer. Today's post is worth reposting in full:
Isaiah 50: 4-9

The following is an excerpt from Practicing Resurrection by Nora Gallagher. Here she describes faith in the midst of her brother's death.

"People say their faith is tested during such times, but I am not sure I had much faith to test. I knew what I did not believe: that God was holding Kit in the palm of [God's] hand (and the whole world, etc.), or that Kit was going on to eternal life or that Kit's suffering and mine were for some greater good. Those statements seemed like so many platitudes to me or at least non of them helped me, none of them gave me a shred of solace. None of them carried any weight. This was beyond anything I I had had to endure, beyond anything I could or will imagine...One thing I knew: other people were praying for Kit and me...I could not pray myself, or at least I could not formulate words or wishes. If I sat still long enough to pray, I found the room filled with a long scream. I finally began to see I was living on other people's prayers, as if they were bread and water. Prayers were what I came to believe in; they were the glue that bound me to the living and made it possible for me to remain upright and walk."

Prayer of the Day

Merciful Holy One, in days of sorrow and affliction bear us up through the love of others. Shelter us in a community of grace and compassion. Grant us comfort, solace and rest in the arms of our friends that we might know your deep and abiding presence with us reflected in the eyes and words and embraces of each other. Amen.
[In the lectionary I was particularly struck by the opening sentence: "The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word." Though of course I have learned, and come to some peace with the fact, that often there are no words and what is required is presence. "What I Learned from My Mother" by Julia Kasdorf]

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hermionesviolin: an image of Alyson Hannigan (who plays Willow Rosenberg) with animated text "you think you know / what you are / what's to come / you haven't even / BEGUN" (Default)
Elizabeth (the delinquent, ecumenical)

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