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Posts tagged ‘Sabbath’

Sep 6

Summer, Waxing and Waning

“Bless the feet that take you to and fro.
Bless the eyes and the listening ears.
Bless the tongue, the marvel of taste.
Bless touching.” – Mary Oliver

The Summer Day by Mary Oliver

“Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean—
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?”

Life, one day, one minute at a time.
Simple, ordinary, brilliant.
Blessed on this ground.
In the quiet and chaos, all in between.
Forever in the stream.
Precious, wild, presence.

“May I stay forever in the stream.” – Mary Oliver

Aug 2

Sweet Nectar of Tending

“My experience is what I agree to attend to.”― William James

“Everyone knows what attention is. It is taking possession of the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seems several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought. Focalization, concentration of consciousness are of its essence. It implies a withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with others.”― William James

Attendance, full participation in this day.
Autopilot off.
To do list aside.
Rapt attention, reverence.
Expansion of presence
Exploration, wandering, sensing.
Sweet nectar of tending.

“Genius, in truth, means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way.”― William James, The Writings of William James

Apr 2

Ashes to Palms

“When the world caves in
Still my hope will cling
To Your promise
Where my courage ends
Let my heart find strength
In Your presence”― Hillsong

“On this Palm Sunday, time is marked as one small donkey plods toward Jerusalem. One with a face set like flint, feet almost grazing the ground, walks forward toward the eastering of all sorrow—not in the power of horses and swift victory, but in small, steady steps toward the mystery that through suffering, healing comes, that through shame, dignity is restored, that through the cross, powers are disarmed, and death done away with forever. Blessed are all those walking forward into the great, small work they do: in hospitals, homes, grocery stores, classrooms, churches, and cubicles. And blessed are we joining the crowds waving palm branches to shout ourselves hoarse: ‘Hosanna! Save us! Save our world!”— Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie, The Lives We Actually Have: 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days

A story of sticking, staying, love.
A love beyond comprehension, fathoming, understanding.
Requiring trust, imagination, faith, grace, expansion, mercy, peace.
To die for a good person is big, massive.
To die, suffer excruciatingly, be humiliated, denied, deserted and hated, carrying others sins not your own.
Unbelievable, and true.
That’s love to fall down for, to pause, to kneel, to revere for at least one week.
Can we do that?
That’s what Holy Week invites us to partake in, to participate in, to stop our busy lives for.
To wait in the garden and not fall asleep.
To not accept 30 silver coins to give up a friend.
To not deny your best friend three times, run away, and still become the cornerstone of the church.
Stay awake, accept no bribe, deny nothing.

From Ashes to Palms.
8 days to Easter.
Sacred holy ground.
Walk with reverence.
Watch with rapt attention.
Hope is in reaching distance and demands a lot this week.
Take up a cross to witness The Cross.
Transforming souls still to this day.
Get in line.
No religion. No rules. No regulations.
An invitation to everyone, not just some, self-righteous, rich, church-goers.
All are welcome.

“Easter was when Hope in person surprised the whole world by coming forward from the future into the present.”― N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church