The Buoyancy of Hope (COVID Vaccine) …

May it be Your will, Lord our God and God of our ancestors that this endeavor bring healing, for You are the generous healer. Siddur Edot HaMizrach from Assorted Blessings and Prayers (Hebrew Text) A Prayer for Receiving the COVID Vaccine I have been praying for this day and now it is here!With great excitement,…

There Is A Balm In Gilead …

Blessed are you in whom the light lives, in whom the brightness blazes— your heart a chapel, an altar where in the deepest night can be seen the fire that shines forth in you in unaccountable faith, in stubborn hope, in love that illumines every broken thing it finds.Jan Richardson from Circle of Grace: A…

The Hill We Climb …

When day comes we ask ourselves,Where can we find light in this never-ending shade?The loss we carry,a sea we must wadeWe braved the belly of the beastWe’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peaceAnd the norms and notionsof what just isIsn’t always just-ice.And yet the dawn is oursbefore we knew itSomehow we do itSomehow we weathered…

Prayer for Courage & Compassion (Morning Prayer) …

Abandon the urge to simplify everything, to look for formulas and easyanswers, and begin to think multidimensionally, to glory in the mysteryand paradoxes of life, not to be dismayed by the multitude of causes andconsequences that are inherent in each experience—to appreciate the factthat life is complex. — M. Scott Peck from The Road Less…

Love (Advent Meditation)

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.—1 John 4:7–8   The beginning and end of everything is love. Only inside of this mystery of the exchange of love can…

The Ties That Bind Us with Paula D’Arcy and Craig Hella Johnson

As I watch the canyon wren or inspect the improbable flowers blooming in this rocky soil, I hear God saying, 'I will supply your needs.' I guess I cling to people and things because I do not trust that fully enough. I really don't believe that nothing generates with me, and everything begins and ends…

Pandemic …

What if you thought of it as the Jews consider the Sabbath— the most sacred of times? Cease from travel. Cease from buying and selling. Give up, just for now, on trying to make the world different than it is. Sing. Pray. Touch only those to whom you commit your life. Center down. And when…

You Will Not Have My Hate …

I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.  — James A. Baldwin Anger is a catalyst. Holding on to it will make us exhausted and sick. Internalizing anger will take away our joy and…

The Wisdom Of Beauty …

I did not have to ask my heart what it wanted, because of all the desires I have ever known just one did I cling to for it was the essence of all desire: to hold beauty in my soul's arms. — St. John of the Cross from Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices…