the tension...

Blessing for Friendship

May you be blessed with good friends,
And learn to be a good friend to yourself,
Journeying to that place in your soul where
There is love, warmth and feeling.
May this change you.

May it transfigure what is negative, distant,
Or cold within your heart.

May you be brought into real passion, kindness,
And belonging.

May you treasure your friends.
May you be good to them, be there for them
And receive all the challenges, truth, and light you need.

May you never be isolated, but know the embrace
Of your anam cara.

[John O'Donahue]

What Happens?

What happens when your soul
Begins to awaken
Your eyes
And your heart
And the cells of your body
To the great journey of love?

First there is wonderful laughter
And probably precious tears

And a hundred sweet promises
And those heroic vows
No one can ever keep

But still God is delighted and amused
You once tried to be a saint

What happens when your soul
Begins to awake in the world

To your deep need to love
And serve the friend?

O the Beloved
Will send you
One of His wonderful, wild companions...

The Stuff of Hope & Dreams

There aren't quite words for this incredible woman. See her incredible performance from Britain's Got Talent.

There is something universal about people's reactions to Susan. I think her sweetness and success speak to our deepest hopes - or at least they resonate loud and clear with mine. In those seven minutes Susan is a conduit of the kingdom, an obvious manifestation of heaven on earth. She is transformed before our eyes into the beautiful, beloved woman she has always been.

God, help me to see people they way you've created them, beyond the outward appearance this world so values. Thank you for loving us and believing that these fleeting moments of glory are actually the reality that we hope for so desperately.

Beauty from the friend of a friend

I know the way you can get
When you have not had a drink of Love:

Your face hardens,
Your sweet muscles cramp.
Children become concerned
About a strange look that appears in your eyes
Which even begins to worry your own mirror
And nose.

Squirrels and birds sense your sadness
And call an important conference in a tall tree.
They decide which secret code to chant
To help your mind and soul.

Even angels fear that brand of madness
That arrays itself against the world
And throws sharp stones and spears into
The innocent
And into one's self.

O I know the way you can get
If you have not been drinking Love:

You might rip apart
Every sentence your friends and teachers say,
Looking for hidden clauses.

You might weigh every word on a scale
Like a dead fish.

You might pull out a ruler to measure
From every angle in your darkness
The beautiful dimensions of a heart you once trusted.

I know the way you can get
If you have not had a drink from Love's hands.

That is why all the Great Ones speak of
The vital need
To keep remembering God,
So you will come to know and see Him
As being so Playful
And Wanting,
Just Wanting to help.

That is why Hafiz says:
Bring your cup near me.
For all I care about
Is quenching your thirst for freedom!

All a sane man can ever care about
Is giving Love.

Christmas List

Care of the Soul and Call to Sacred Activism

"It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
It may be incomplete; but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
An opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well."

-Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw