road song

Do you walk this road alone,
oh traveler?
Is the soft thump of your steps and the stir of the breeze in the dust your only companion?
Awake,
awaken to the sunrise.
You are not alone...do you not see the first ray of dawn?
See, now it rises, bright and sure over these hills....
you will hear the song of the morning again.
I see the dark...
I walk the dark.
Groping, feeling my way through this path, starless night that it is.
See, though, the light that dawns.
Moon and stars rise,
sun over the mountains comes slow and sure.
It will be a quiet morning.
Never, though, has there been a night without a morning.
So still I wait.
This is not a lonely path,
dark though it is.
I am in the company of the strongest, bravest ones I know.
We walk in the silence,
waiting for the morning.
It rises.
We will see again.
Listen,
Oh traveler.

the prayer of Saint Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is error, truth;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

And where there is sadness, joy.O Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

thrive- switchfoot

Been fighting things that I can't see
Like voices coming from the inside of me and
Like doing things I find hard to believe in
Am I myself or am I dreaming?

I've been awake for an hour or so
Checking for a pulse but I just don't know
Am I a man when I feel like a ghost?
The stranger in the mirror is wearing my clothes

No, I'm not alright
I know that I'm not right
A steering wheel don't mean you can drive
A warm body don't mean I'm alive

No, I'm not alright
I know that I'm not right
Feel like I travel but I never arrive
I wanna thrive not just survive

I come alive when I hear you singing
But lately I haven't been hearing a thing and
I get the feeling that I'm in between
A machine and a man who only looks like me

I try and hide it and not let it show
But deep down inside me I just don't know
Am I a man when I feel like a hoax?
The stranger in the mirror is wearing my clothes

No, I'm not alright
I know that I'm not right
A steering wheel don't mean you can drive
A warm body don't mean I'm alive

No, I'm not alright
I know that I'm not right
Feel like I travel but I never arrive
I wanna thrive not just survive

I'm always close, but I'm never enough
I'm always in line, but I'm never in love
I get so down, but I won't give up
I get so down, but I won't give up
I get so down, but I won; t give up

Been fighting things that I can't see
Like voices coming from the inside of me and
Like doing things I find hard to believe in
Am I myself or am I dreaming?

Am I myself or am I dreaming?
Am I myself or am I dreaming?

Thrive, thrive, thrive, yeaah, thrive

No, I'm not alright
I know that I'm not right
A steering wheel don't mean you can drive
A warm body don't mean I'm alive

No, I'm not alright
I know that I'm not right
Feel like I travel but I never arrive
I wanna thrive not just survive
I wanna thrive not just survive

Yeah yeah
Feel like I travel but I never arrive
I wanna thrive not just survive
I wanna thrive not just survive
I wanna thrive not just survive

Feels like I travel but I never arrive
I wanna thrive not just survive

we remember

 He was dishonored and not considered, He bears our sins and suffers for our sakes, and we for our part thought Him distressed and afflicted and ill-used; but it was for our sins that He was wounded, and for our lawlessness that He was made weak. Punishment for our sins was upon Him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Isaiah 53:4-5

go to the limits of your longing

God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.
These are the words we dimly hear:
You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.
Flare up like a flame
and make big shadows I can move in.
Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don’t let yourself lose me.
Nearby is the country they call life.
You will know it by its seriousness.
Give me your hand.

R-anier Maria Rilke

between

Now He is led forth to death, carrying His Cross. O what a spectacle is this! Do you see it? Lo, the government is upon His shoulders. See, here is His rod of equity, His rod of empire. Wine mingled with gall is given Him to drink. He is striped of His garments, which are divided among the soldiers; but His tunic is not rent, but passes by lot to one of them. His dear hands and feet are bored with nails; and He, stretched on the Cross, is hung up between thieves. Of God and men the Mediator, He hangs in the midst between heaven and earth; joining lowest things and highest, earthly things and heavenly; and heaven is bewildered, and earth condoles.
"And what of you? No wonder if, while the sun mourns, you mourn also; if, while the earth shakes, you tremble; if, while rocks rend, your heart is torn; if, while the women beside the Cross are all in tears, you cry aloud with them."
— Anselm of Canterbury, Meditation #84

isaiah 58:5-7

 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
    only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
    and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
    a day acceptable to the Lord?

 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
    and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
    and break every yoke?
 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

small

Five Minute Friday! :)

He speaks to us
and I see His galaxy spread wide before these eyes.
A billion stars flung with abandon and careful presicion into the inky sky,
and I know.

I am small.

I sit waiting for the wave to crest and carry my kayak up, and I see the ocean spread white tipped wave after white tipped wave,
and I know.

I am small.

My skis slip through the powder like a knife through flour, and the mountains rise high, jagged against the brilliant blue winter sky.
I know.

I am small.

He's big.

That's the right way.

Then one of my favorite stories tells of Elijah wanting to see God:

Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.
1 Kings 19:11-13

Another translation calls it the "still, small voice."

To you who know you are small:
listen for the gentle whisper of God who is big.

Love:)

R

until we don't need to remember

He raises the bread up.

This is my body, broken for you.

The cup.

This is my blood spilled for the forgiveness of your sin.

Remember.

And we taste.

Taste and see that the Lord is good,
even in the bitter dregs and the dry crumbs that remain.

We celebrate this.

We celebrate the remembrance, the sacrament,
until the day
He comes again
in glory
and we won't need to remember
because we
will
see.

This
is
no empty ritual.

This
is
practicing the remembrance.

Knowing the price of freedom.

We are free.

Praise God.


Love:)

R

the lost and the finding

The words
left.

They went
away, gone for so long.

They're still
gone.

Inside, though,
I feel them start to rise.

They're so
deep.

Exhaustion does that,
strips you of yourself.

You go so long, you
start to shut down
and you get
lost.

Lost?
Inside.

It's so easy to
hide.

You could do it forever.



I will be found.



Love:)

R

John 1:14-16

The Word became flesh and blood,
    and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
    the one-of-a-kind glory,
    like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
    true from start to finish.

 John pointed him out and called, “This is the One! The One I told you was coming after me but in fact was ahead of me. He has always been ahead of me, has always had the first word.”

We all live off his generous bounty,
        gift after gift after gift.

a year

What do you do with a year?

Do you speak a benediction over it to close it out,
or do you simply bless the year ahead?

What do you say?

Do you look back into the darkness and the pain?
Or do you reach for the light?

I remember.
I remember dark.
More than the dark,
though,
I remember light.

It wasn't an easy year,
but it was a year of leaning in.

Of hope.

Of hearing the voice of God in the desert canyon,
the whisper of love and peace into the wind.

Of friends who were there.

It was a beautiful year.

Light conquers dark.

Maybe a benediction and a blessing aren't so different after all.
They might even be the same.



Christ in us- the hope of glory.
That is the blessing and the benediction,
the first and the last,
the edges of a year-
of a life.

Do I need anything else?

Christ in us,
the hope of glory.


Love:)

R

be there

I prefer a church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security ... More than by fear of going astray, my hope is that we will be moved by the fear of remaining shut up within structures which give us a false sense of security, within rules which make us harsh judges, within habits which make us feel safe, while at our door people are starving and Jesus does not tire of saying to us: 'Give them something to eat.'”
-Pope Francis on the Papal mission

LOVE!!!

sun and clouds

Pray as you can,
he says.

As you can...
what if I can't?
What if there are no words,
and I'm trusting that the
Spirit of God
knows what my heart longs for?

It's so grey,
today.

Even as I say that,
though,
the sun comes
peeking through the
heavy clouds.

He works like that,
right?

Light through dark,
sunbeams through the pouring rain?

Rainbows, right?

Pray as you can.

The Son is coming.



Love:)

R

and he will be called

  For a child is born to us,
    a son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
    And he will be called:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

 

Really?

 

This year....it's been rough.

Beautiful and glorious? Yes.

 

But also, maybe, the hardest yet.

And it is still dark.

 

Wonderful Counselor?

There were so many times when I didn't know what to say,

couldn't even find words to acknowledge.

So many times when I didn't know what to do.

In the desert canyons this summer, I read Isaiah 30:20-22.

 

Though the Lord gave you adversity for food
    and suffering for drink,
he will still be with you to teach you.
    You will see your teacher with your own eyes.
Your own ears will hear him.
    Right behind you a voice will say,
“This is the way you should go,”
    whether to the right or to the left.
 Then you will destroy all your silver idols
    and your precious gold images.
You will throw them out like filthy rags,
    saying to them, “Good riddance!”

 

The way is hard to find,

but it's there.

 

 

Mighty God?

It's not that we don't know He is....

but sometimes you get so tired of waiting for Him to step in and save the day.

 

But in my distress I cried out to the Lord;
    yes, I prayed to my God for help.
He heard me from his sanctuary;
    my cry to him reached his ears.

Then the earth quaked and trembled.
    The foundations of the mountains shook;

 

He rescued me from my powerful enemies,
    from those who hated me and were too strong for me.

They attacked me at a moment when I was in distress,
    but the Lord supported me.
 He led me to a place of safety;
    he rescued me because he delights in me.

Psalm 18:6-7, 16-19

 

 

Everlasting Father.....

yeah.

God of the universe?

Jesus teaches us to pray;

 

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,
 and forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
 And lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from evil.

 

Prince of Peace.

If I were to pick a word for this year,

the year of the whirlwind,

it would be Peace.

 

The year was not one of peace all around,

but it was one of learning to find peace inside.

To  hide in His Shadow, and watch the storm outside.

There was so much that slipped through my fingers,

so much that fell crashing down,

and there was so much peace.

 

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility

Ephesians 13:13-15

 

 

Him and Him alone.

 

All glory to God, who truly is Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.

 

We are nothing without that.

 

 

Love:)

 

R

marvel now

 Athanasius asks "How could He have called us if He had not been crucified, for it is only on the cross that a man dies with His arms outstretched?"

This is God, dying with open arms.

The Jews, confused and blinded, could not see past the darkness in their own hearts.

Why did He not free them from their oppressors?

Why was the kingdom He brought about one of peace?

They couldn't bear to see that the real war was over their hearts, that the conquering king wasn't to fight for victory against fleeting man,

but

instead over the  last and greatest enemy-

 death

 In His death, the broken world was atoned for,

and we were given a chance at redemption.

We were given life.

   As we reflect this Advent over the Word becoming flesh, we cannot allow ourselves to be numbed to the wonder of the Incarnation.

We do not serve a far off God, or seek blindly for truth like the world around us. 

We are broken, and yet we are healed.

The great Story is ours;

we have become a part of it.

We serve the God who knelt and washed feet,

who died with arms outstretched to the mocking world.

We are the reason He came.

We are loved.

When faced with that, what can we say?

What wonderful, upside down story are we now a part of?

As Athanasius writes in On The Incarnation-

O marvel at the Love of the Word for man!

 

Love:)

 

R

lost and found

It's cold, tonight.
Dark, and starry, and silent.
These haunting, lovely words are so beautiful tonight.


There are wild things

just beyond the creche.

Pry loose an Advent

candle from its round

wreath and walk straight

past the doe-eyed virgin,

deeper into the world

he was born to save.

 

Jettison your meekness.

Cup your hand over the

flame, you’ll be exposed.

No, don’t look for a star.

Instead listen for the carol

of the trees as the wind

repeats its sounding joy.

You’ll feel more lost than

saved but that’s how the

prophets say it will feel

the closer your journey to

the coming arrival.

-John Blase
http://thebeautifuldue.wordpress.com/

work

If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner." (From Long Walk to Freedom, 1995)

-Nelson Mandela

thrive - switchfoot

Been fighting things that I can't see
Like voices coming from the inside of me and
Like doing things I find hard to believe in
Am I myself or am I dreaming?

I've been awake for an hour or so
Checking for a pulse but I just don't know
Am I a man when I feel like a ghost?
The stranger in the mirror is wearing my clothes

No, I'm not alright
I know that I'm not right
A steering wheel don't mean you can drive
A warm body don't mean I'm alive

No, I'm not alright
I know that I'm not right
Feel like I travel but I never arrive
I wanna thrive not just survive

I come alive when I hear you singing
But lately I haven't been hearing a thing and
I get the feeling that I'm in between
A machine and a man who only looks like me

I try and hide it and not let it show
But deep down inside me I just don't know
Am I a man when I feel like a hoax?
The stranger in the mirror is wearing my clothes

No, I'm not alright
I know that I'm not right
A steering wheel don't mean you can drive
A warm body don't mean I'm alive

No, I'm not alright
I know that I'm not right
Feel like I travel but I never arrive
I wanna thrive not just survive

I'm always close, but I'm never enough
I'm always in line, but I'm never in love
I get so down, but I won't give up
I get so down, but I won't give up
I get so down, but I won; t give up

Been fighting things that I can't see
Like voices coming from the inside of me and
Like doing things I find hard to believe in
Am I myself or am I dreaming?

Am I myself or am I dreaming?
Am I myself or am I dreaming?

Thrive, thrive, thrive, yeaah, thrive

No, I'm not alright
I know that I'm not right
A steering wheel don't mean you can drive
A warm body don't mean I'm alive

No, I'm not alright
I know that I'm not right
Feel like I travel but I never arrive
I wanna thrive not just survive
I wanna thrive not just survive

Yeah yeah
Feel like I travel but I never arrive
I wanna thrive not just survive
I wanna thrive not just survive
I wanna thrive not just survive

Feels like I travel but I never arrive
I wanna thrive not just survive

(I am) the love addict- the lonely forest

Just when I thought I had nothing
Nothing good to give
You appeared, won my heart
And showed me I must die to live
Take my pride
Please remove these selfish thoughts
Save me from the world
I wanna be addicted to love
I wanna be addicted to love


A line of white is all my body really needs
The spirit sold for the lain to ease
But I know that this road,
It isn't going to bring me peace
Give me something new For my soul to use
Something beautiful for my heart to abuse
The drugs are never enough
I wanna be addicted to love
I wanna be addicted to love
I wanna be addicted

Why are we so, loveless?
I'm worried,
please hurry
And why are we so loveless?
I'm worried,
please take me home
I wanna be addicted to love
I wanna be addicted to love (I want to be)