Greetings Friends!
Many, if not most of us are not comfortable with waiting. We live in a society that promotes instant gratification: “fast” food, drive-through banking and prescription service, even self-serve checkout kiosks at grocery stores, and more. Get it hot and get it now is a prevailing theme! Waiting in long lines has become not only irritating but unacceptable. Funny, but some of our potential “wait-eliminating” conveniences don’t always provide us with more time. And more time – time to prepare – is what many of us may desire amid this busy holiday season to come.
As we enter and celebrate this first Sunday of Advent, we are encouraged to focus our minds and hearts on preparation. Liturgically this IS a season of preparation, but in our daily lives we are well aware these four weeks are filled, perhaps to the brim, with a great dose of busyness. After all, there is shopping and gift wrapping, house cleaning and decorating, tree trimming, baking and cooking, parties and Christmas concerts. Our list of “to do’s” could potentially be nearly endless. So much to do; so little time. It’s no wonder we hear some say they can’t wait till Christmas is over. And yet amid our busyness, we are invited to pause and prepare ourselves for the Coming of the Light anew in more that outward ways.
In recent weeks some of our Scripture readings have spoken to us about darkness. The advantage of Advent is that it offers us a time of hope – reminds us there is light amid the darkness. Perhaps a key to beginning our preparation is to take some time – to “watch” and “wait” – in the check-out lines, as we have our morning coffee or tea, as we prepare our meals, as we ready ourselves for bed (to name a few). And in our watching and waiting we have the opportunity to ponder where inside are we experiencing darkness; what are the struggles in our lives; for what and for whom does my spirit long? By reflecting on these things we can discover our need for light and encounter with God. And when we are able to identify and discover our need for light in our lives – the light that our loving God provides – we can be able to echo the Advent refrain “Come Lord Jesus” with a renewed sense of hopeful longing, meaning, and anticipation.
As we watch and wait, may we always be sustained by the light of our knowing the deep and constant Love of God in our lives.
Peace on the Journey
29 November 2008
22 November 2008
23 November 2008
Greetings Friends,
These days, with our national economy in such a state of strain (to say the least), it can be difficult not to think about the countless people who are affected. There are those who are now and have been unemployed and those who are homeless, living in poverty and unable to secure or provide even the basic necessities for themselves and their families. All this and more. These are truly tough times for a great many people. Though none of us can single-handedly do much to eliminate or ease the desperation of so many, we can do something…
The gospel today (Matthew 25: 31-46) gives us guidance in this regard. Taking to heart and living the “positives” of this gospel we can make a difference – one person at a time. The key is how we tend to one another: “When I was hungry…when I was thirsty…when I was ill…” cries out for us to stop and think, and then to respond in generosity. As a faith community, we have done and continue to do much good in this regard!
As we approach our national holiday of Thanksgiving, we are reminded of all the ways we have been blessed and provided for. Our loving God has given each of us abundance – perhaps not in status, financial security, or world-defined success and material possessions – but in God’s constant and unconditional love. At baptism we receive the Light of Christ, a Light that is not meant for only ourselves, but to be shared. This is the great responsibility of our gift of Christian life. Individually we may not have the means to eliminate poverty or solve the current financial crisis. But, there is one very apparent and meaningful way we can be the Light of Christ to others: we can share with others the gift of ourselves – our time, our presence, our listening ear, our comfort and our support. And we can share with those around us, near and far, the Good News of God’s deep and abiding love.
May we ponder all the ways we have been so wonderfully blessed, no matter our circumstances, and give thanks to God!
Peace on the Journey
These days, with our national economy in such a state of strain (to say the least), it can be difficult not to think about the countless people who are affected. There are those who are now and have been unemployed and those who are homeless, living in poverty and unable to secure or provide even the basic necessities for themselves and their families. All this and more. These are truly tough times for a great many people. Though none of us can single-handedly do much to eliminate or ease the desperation of so many, we can do something…
The gospel today (Matthew 25: 31-46) gives us guidance in this regard. Taking to heart and living the “positives” of this gospel we can make a difference – one person at a time. The key is how we tend to one another: “When I was hungry…when I was thirsty…when I was ill…” cries out for us to stop and think, and then to respond in generosity. As a faith community, we have done and continue to do much good in this regard!
As we approach our national holiday of Thanksgiving, we are reminded of all the ways we have been blessed and provided for. Our loving God has given each of us abundance – perhaps not in status, financial security, or world-defined success and material possessions – but in God’s constant and unconditional love. At baptism we receive the Light of Christ, a Light that is not meant for only ourselves, but to be shared. This is the great responsibility of our gift of Christian life. Individually we may not have the means to eliminate poverty or solve the current financial crisis. But, there is one very apparent and meaningful way we can be the Light of Christ to others: we can share with others the gift of ourselves – our time, our presence, our listening ear, our comfort and our support. And we can share with those around us, near and far, the Good News of God’s deep and abiding love.
May we ponder all the ways we have been so wonderfully blessed, no matter our circumstances, and give thanks to God!
Peace on the Journey
15 November 2008
16 November 2008
Greetings Friends,
This time of the year it can be difficult not to think of darkness. The scenery is pretty barren by now – the bright colors of early autumn are all but gone, most of the crops have been harvested leaving us with brown as the most abundant landscape color, cloudy days seem to be more abundant, and my goodness nightfall comes so early in the evening! Some say the days are getting shorter. When I hear that phrase, I can’t help but think of a time many years ago when looking at the jam-packed work schedule for the day, I commented to a co-worker, “It’s going to be a long day”. This co-worker, without skipping a beat, replied, “Every day has 24 hours”. Well, yes, every day does have 24 hours. And yet, this time of the year most of those hours are in darkness – night time.
Sometimes the darkness we experience is simply that – the physical darkness of the night time. Sometimes the darkness may be the feelings of grief we are immersed in as the result of the death of a loved one or a loss of some other significant part of our lives – employment, a friendship gone sour, an illness, etc. Sometimes a feeling of being in darkness can be the result of a spiritual dryness we feel – a time when our usual way of praying or connecting with God just doesn’t feel the same and we may even wonder if God is really hearing our prayer. Times of darkness, no matter what has caused us to be in that “dark place”, can be a time of transition toward something new, an opportunity to rest and allow ourselves to simply be in the presence of God without words, a movement toward a new way of seeing and feeling and being light. One of the most profound realizations we can count on is that God is present with us in the darkness – God’s light is always there with us and for us. God’s deep and constant love is always available to us, is always with us and never leaves us. God’s love will draw us to the light.
In a couple of weeks we will embark on the Season of Advent – a time of preparation, a time of waiting, a time of anticipation of the coming of the Light anew. May we ponder all the ways God blesses us with love, care, comfort and strength empowering us to be light for others in all we say, do and are.
Peace on the Journey
This time of the year it can be difficult not to think of darkness. The scenery is pretty barren by now – the bright colors of early autumn are all but gone, most of the crops have been harvested leaving us with brown as the most abundant landscape color, cloudy days seem to be more abundant, and my goodness nightfall comes so early in the evening! Some say the days are getting shorter. When I hear that phrase, I can’t help but think of a time many years ago when looking at the jam-packed work schedule for the day, I commented to a co-worker, “It’s going to be a long day”. This co-worker, without skipping a beat, replied, “Every day has 24 hours”. Well, yes, every day does have 24 hours. And yet, this time of the year most of those hours are in darkness – night time.
Sometimes the darkness we experience is simply that – the physical darkness of the night time. Sometimes the darkness may be the feelings of grief we are immersed in as the result of the death of a loved one or a loss of some other significant part of our lives – employment, a friendship gone sour, an illness, etc. Sometimes a feeling of being in darkness can be the result of a spiritual dryness we feel – a time when our usual way of praying or connecting with God just doesn’t feel the same and we may even wonder if God is really hearing our prayer. Times of darkness, no matter what has caused us to be in that “dark place”, can be a time of transition toward something new, an opportunity to rest and allow ourselves to simply be in the presence of God without words, a movement toward a new way of seeing and feeling and being light. One of the most profound realizations we can count on is that God is present with us in the darkness – God’s light is always there with us and for us. God’s deep and constant love is always available to us, is always with us and never leaves us. God’s love will draw us to the light.
In a couple of weeks we will embark on the Season of Advent – a time of preparation, a time of waiting, a time of anticipation of the coming of the Light anew. May we ponder all the ways God blesses us with love, care, comfort and strength empowering us to be light for others in all we say, do and are.
Peace on the Journey
08 November 2008
8 November 2008
Greetings Friends,
The image of temple is abundant in all of today’s readings. We, our bodies, are the temple of the Lord – a holy creation of God. And yet, in the society in which we live with its emphasis on worldly success, consumerism, and getting ahead can lead to a disregard or diminishing of seeing ourselves as holy or a temple of the Lord. Sometimes this is a tough reality for me to really take in. We do have to survive in our world. And yet, we are also called to reverence our being and lives as God-given gifts of holiness. The struggle becomes finding a way to turn an “either/or” into a “both/and”. We do not either live completely in our world of human desires for success (how ever we define that for ourselves) or in a totally spiritual realm disregarding our duty as responsible citizens of our families, communities, or country. We are called to both “worlds” so to speak.
How we see and tend to our spiritual dimension does have direct bearing on how we relate to others and the world/society we live in. If we acknowledge our being – our life – as a loving creation of our generous God and treat ourselves and others as such, we in turn will become and be grateful, loving and caring toward ourselves and others. Our holiness as a temple of the Lord is embracing the fact that we are constantly being loved into the way God’s sees us and intends us to be.
May we allow Christ to drive into our hearts the goodness and grace to witness for others the deep and abiding love of God for all.
Peace on the Journey
The image of temple is abundant in all of today’s readings. We, our bodies, are the temple of the Lord – a holy creation of God. And yet, in the society in which we live with its emphasis on worldly success, consumerism, and getting ahead can lead to a disregard or diminishing of seeing ourselves as holy or a temple of the Lord. Sometimes this is a tough reality for me to really take in. We do have to survive in our world. And yet, we are also called to reverence our being and lives as God-given gifts of holiness. The struggle becomes finding a way to turn an “either/or” into a “both/and”. We do not either live completely in our world of human desires for success (how ever we define that for ourselves) or in a totally spiritual realm disregarding our duty as responsible citizens of our families, communities, or country. We are called to both “worlds” so to speak.
How we see and tend to our spiritual dimension does have direct bearing on how we relate to others and the world/society we live in. If we acknowledge our being – our life – as a loving creation of our generous God and treat ourselves and others as such, we in turn will become and be grateful, loving and caring toward ourselves and others. Our holiness as a temple of the Lord is embracing the fact that we are constantly being loved into the way God’s sees us and intends us to be.
May we allow Christ to drive into our hearts the goodness and grace to witness for others the deep and abiding love of God for all.
Peace on the Journey
01 November 2008
2 November 2008
Greetings Friends,
This weekend with the celebration of All Saint’s Day on Saturday (not a Holy Day of obligation this year) and All Soul’s Day on Sunday, the Church and we remember family and friends who have entered into eternal life and the Church of Heaven. Some of us may be at a point in our grieving where our memories evoke in us great sadness – sadness because the death of our loved one is so recent, and our emotions so raw. Others of us may now be looking upon many memories with longing for days and times past. And for still others of us, our memories of departed loved ones perhaps brings a smile, a fondness, and gratefulness that this person or people were an important part of our life. No matter where we find ourselves in our remembering, we can take comfort in knowing our God is with us – as companion, as comforter – every step of the way; we are never alone.
On this weekend of remembering, and in all the days ahead, may we more than ever be sustained by our knowing that God is so very deeply in Love with us.
Peace on the Journey.
This weekend with the celebration of All Saint’s Day on Saturday (not a Holy Day of obligation this year) and All Soul’s Day on Sunday, the Church and we remember family and friends who have entered into eternal life and the Church of Heaven. Some of us may be at a point in our grieving where our memories evoke in us great sadness – sadness because the death of our loved one is so recent, and our emotions so raw. Others of us may now be looking upon many memories with longing for days and times past. And for still others of us, our memories of departed loved ones perhaps brings a smile, a fondness, and gratefulness that this person or people were an important part of our life. No matter where we find ourselves in our remembering, we can take comfort in knowing our God is with us – as companion, as comforter – every step of the way; we are never alone.
On this weekend of remembering, and in all the days ahead, may we more than ever be sustained by our knowing that God is so very deeply in Love with us.
Peace on the Journey.
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