Advent Prayer: Life Itself Is Grace …

But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid, for see -- I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people." — Luke 1.10 God of fear, God of the night, God of the expectation, You visited shepherds in the night with songs and sights of joy. In all of…

Advent Meditation: Love That Sees Us …

Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. — James 5:7-8 We live in…

Advent Meditation: God Comes Uninvited …

Into this world, this demented inn in which there is absolutely no room for him at all, Christ comes uninvited. — Thomas Merton from Raids on the Unspeakable The Arrival A more lowly place of birth could not exist. Off to one side sits a group of shepherds. They sit silently on the floor, perhaps perplexed,…

The Living Image Of God …

The highest form of love is the love that allows for intimacy without the annihilation of difference. — Parker J. Palmer from  The Courage to Teach I conclude by saying that each of us must keep faith in the future. Let us not despair. Let us realize that as we struggle for justice and freedom,…

Blessed Are You Who Bear the Light …

My earliest memories of creation are primarily of light. They come to me in a kaleidoscope of recollection, of light reflecting off the waters of northern Canadian lakes where I spent time as a boy or of the clarity of the night skies above those same waters. I often would sit mesmerized by the sun's…

The Price (Good Friday Meditation) …

The suffering itself is not so bad; it’s the resentment against suffering that is the real pain. — Allen Ginsberg from The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion   There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations…

The Hope Of Loving …

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. — 1 John 4:7-8   I have a choice about where to stand in my inner landscape as I move…

A Prayer of Hope For the New Year …

God as this new year dawns, Let us see the newness you are birthing. May we not be blinded by darkness, Or paralyzed by the fear. That consumes our world May we remember: Out of winter's night you bring forth light, Out of winter's death new seeds emerge. What is dormant will spring to life,…

God Is Everywhere (Advent Meditation) …

To look at the last great self-portraits of Rembrandt or to read Pascal or hear Bach's B-minor Mass is to know beyond the need for further evidence that if God is anywhere, he is with them, as he is also with the man behind the meat counter, the woman who scrubs floors at Roosevelt Memorial,…