Category: Miscellany

Found another gem to share…

I cannot speak,

unless you loose my tongue;

I can only stammer,

and speak with uncertainty;

but if you touch my mouth,

my Lord,

then I will sing the story

of your wonders!

.

Teach me to hear that story,

through each person,

to cradle a sense of wonder

in their life,

to honor the hard-earned wisdom

of their sufferings,

to waken their joy

that the king of all kings

stoops down

to wash their feet

and looking up

into their face

says,

‘I know – I understand’.

. Continue reading “Celtic Prayer for the Voiceless” →

Walking out of my office to give a final exam, I thought, “Sometimes it just sucks to by human.”  When I reached the classroom, my students were bemoaning their lives and the stress levels within.  I grinned and set the plate of homemade, decorated cookies I’d brought them on a desk.

“It’s Christmas!” one remarked, as the hope of sugar eased some of the anxiety.  I told them my recent thought and we all shared a knowing smile.  I wonder if Jesus had the same idea just  before he came to Earth.

In the midst of major craziness waiting for the peace and calm of Christmas, I was grateful for this moment to be honest and chuckle at all in life beyond our control.

In case you need a few reasons to chuckle this season, this website often helps me…  Dry, sarcastic sometimes, but oh, so true!

“In the West there is loneliness, which I call the leprosy of the West. In many ways it is worse than our poor in Calcutta. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty. There is a terrible hunger for love. We all experience that in our lives–the pain, the loneliness. We must have the courage to recognize it. These poor you may have right in your own family. Find them. Love them.“

-Mother Teresa

I found this interesting…

Coming to grips with the alarming disconnects of our consumerist society:  Priceless

(originally posted by Jim Moss on The Seminal)

While the season is wonderful in some ways, for those who are literally half way around the world from family and close friends, it also brings its own challenges.  Sinhu posted a thoughtful reflection on her blog “the rest is still unwritten”.

So I read this in my devotions this week and was quite tickled by it.  Thought I’d share 🙂

I’d like to give a lake of beer to God
I’d love the Heavenly
Host to be tippling there
For all eternity.

White cups of love I’d give them
With a heart and a half.
Sweet pitchers of mercy I’d offer
To every man.

I’d sit with the men, the women and God
There by the lake of beer.
We’d be drinking good health forever
And every drop would be a prayer.

– St. Brigid

So I’m a sucker for funny stories like this…  You’ve probably not seen anything like it!  WARNING:  it’s a tad gross.

Find out how your salary compares to the rest of the world.  I am the 55,923,010th richest person in the world (top .93%!)

For all of you bringing good to the hard places…

The Prayer of Oscar Romero
It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.

The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
It is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
Of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about,
we plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation
In realizing that. This enables us to do something,
And to do it very well. It may be incomplete,
But it is a beginning, a step along the way,
An opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference
Between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
Amen.

(thank to Marcia Ghali at The Second Time Around…)