Speaking of Spirit

This past week has been the most difficult many of us have ever experienced. We are worried and fearful because of the constant threat of the COVID virus. Yet, in the face of fear and uncertainty, there have been many acts of selflessness and compassion. As the writer of Matthew says above, can worrying give you anything more in life?  Worry does nothing more than sap us of energy - energy that could be used to help ourselves and others.  Being worry-free does not mean we do not care or that we are unaware. Rather, being worry-free is the realization that something needs our attention, that we might be uncertain of what to do, but whether alone or together, we will face the challenges ahead. A Prayer for Our Time Masterful Physician of Life,  we come to You in this time, when fear lingers, like hungry animals on the outskirts of the forest. We come to You in this time, when uncertainty blows, like an icy wind that paralyzes everything it touche...

When it feels as if all that we love is falling apart, it is difficult to see a silver lining.  The despair this brings causes fear. Fear leads us to unconscionable situations, where all manner of horrors live. William Sloan Coffin, Jr., minister, peace and civil rights activist said, "The opposite of love is not hate; the opposite of love is fear."   Hate is something learned through fear.  Fear comes first.  For example, as a child, I feared falling from high places. After seeing images of people falling, being told over and over to get away from the edge and finally, having someone in our community fall from a height that crippled him, I learned to hate high places. This hate grew into a phobia that nearly crippled me. Fortunately, I learned to retrain my brain to understand that high places can be dangerous if I am not in a safe position. In other words, I don't hang by one hand from a cliff edge. (I still don't like to be up high, but I am not afraid like...

Hope His the thing with feathers  That perches in the soul,  And sings the tune without the words,  And never stops at all, And sweetest in the gale is heard;  And sore must be the storm  That could abash the little bird  That kept so many warm.  I’ve heard it in the chillest land,  And on the strangest sea;  Yet, never, in extremity, It asked a crumb of me.  Emily Dickinson   Hope is needed in great quantities these days. Sometimes, we actually need a reminder that there is always hope, even in the darkest moments. I had one such reminder as I watched a flock of robins feeding on the lawn. One was up on a branch singing to beat the band. Emily's poem popped into my head, along with the reminder not to despair. Then, my teacher's mind realized this was a teachable moment!  In many cultures, birds are messengers from the Great Spirit, the Creator, God. Birds are symbolic of angels. They can be found everyw...

" The kingdom of God could be realized simply by daring to live differently from the normal conventions. The kingdom of God in the teachings of Jesus was not an apocalyptic or heavenly projection of otherworldly desire. It was driven by a desire to think that there must be a better way to live together than the present state of affairs. And it called for a change of behavior in the present on the part of individuals invested in the vision. " Burton L. Mack I was in seminary when I finally understood the quote from the Gospel of Luke, "The Kingdom of God is within you, now." We search and search, but what we dream of is here.  Too often, by the time we realize this, the time to enjoy reveling in the knowledge is too short. We, humans, are born with the ability to create the world we live in. We can create a world of peace and compassion or a world of hate and pain. The choice is ours.   Thing is, we must begin within, for there is where the Source lie...